Greed (film) - Plot

Plot

"I never truckled, I never took off the hat to fashion and held it out for pennies. By God, I told them the truth. They liked it or they didn't like it. What had that to do with me? I told them the truth; I knew it for the truth then, and I know it for the truth now." — Frank Norris, quote used at the beginning of the film.

Trina & McTeague
The film opens with John McTeague (Gibson Gowland) working as a miner in Placer County, CA. A traveling dentist named Dr. Painless Potter visits his home town and McTeague's mother begs Dr. Potter to take her son on as an apprentice. Dr. Potter agrees and McTeague eventually becomes a dentist, opening his own practice on Polk Street in San Francisco.

Marcus Schouler (Jean Hersholt) brings Trina Sieppe (ZaSu Pitts), his cousin and intended fiancée, into McTeague's office for dental work. Schouler and McTeague are friends and McTeague gladly agrees to examine her. As they wait for an opening, Trina buys a lottery ticket from Maria. During her initial visit and subsequent check-ups McTeague becomes enamored with Trina and, despite knowing that she and Schouler are romantically linked, McTeague begs Schouler for permission to court Trina. After seeing McTeague's conviction, Schouler agrees.

Although Trina finds McTeague agreeable, his working-class roots are an issue for her, and she plays coy despite his advances. Eventually she agrees to marry him, to which McTeague triumphantly shouts "I got her! I got her!" Meanwhile, Trina's lottery ticket wins five thousand dollars. Initially, the sum has little effect on the couple; however, Schouler soon bitterly claims that the money should have been his. This is the beginning of a lifelong rift between the pair.

After McTeague and Trina wed, they continue to live in their small apartment with Trina refusing to spend her $5,000 on anything. The couple look at buying a house (at $35/month plus water), but Trina thinks it is too expensive and later claims to have found still water in their basement, another reason for not moving. Trina's mother writes of hardship, asking for a $50 loan, however Trina hesitates, but eventually agrees to pay the money if she and McTeague each pay half. McTeague agrees and Trina quietly plots, "if she needs the money that badly, she'll write again."

Schouler stops by the couple's place to say his last goodbyes, explaining that he is heading out of town to become a cattle rancher. Trina and McTeague bid him farewell. However, Schouler still harbors a grudge against the couple, and has secretly conspired to ruin McTeague's business by reporting him for undertaking dentistry without a license. McTeague is ordered to shut down his practice or face jail time, and briefly finds work elsewhere before being fired. Even though she has saved over $200 in addition to the original $5000 from the lottery ticket, Trina is unwilling to spend any of her money. This begins to be an issue for McTeague. Trina orders him out of the house into the night rain in order to find more work. Before he leaves, she takes his final pay, then refuses to even give him a dime for car fare.

Money coming into the household becomes increasingly scarce, with the couple "forced" to sell all their possessions. Eventually they move out into a house where a recent murder took place because the rent is cheaper. After McTeague and Trina argue about money, McTeague snaps and bites Trina's fingers in a fit of rage. Later McTeague leaves to go fishing to earn money, but also takes Trina's savings (now totaling $450). McTeague does not return home and Trina is distraught about his whereabouts, although apparently lamenting the loss of her money more than her husband.

Trina's bitten fingers become infected and have to be amputated. With her savings gone and McTeague no longer providing an income, Trina picks up casual work as a cleaner at a children's school. She withdraws the $5,000 from the bank in order to keep it close to her at all times, eventually spreading the money on her bed so she can sleep on it. McTeague returns, having spent the money, and asks Trina for more, as he is now starving. The following day McTeague confronts Trina at the school. They get into a heated argument and McTeague beats Trina to death then steals her $5,000.

Now an outlaw, McTeague returns to a life in the mines until he "senses danger" and flees in the night, narrowly avoiding bounty hunters. McTeague then teams up with a prospector named Cribbens (James F. Fulton), and the pair set out looking for something to mine to make their fortunes. Heading towards Death Valley, they find a large quantity of quartz, and so set themselves up as millionaires. Before they can begin mining, McTeague once again "senses danger" in the night, and flees into Death Valley with a single horse, the remaining money, and one water jug. Several marshals are pursuing McTeauge, including Marcus Schouler, who saw the wanted poster and is able to help identify McTeague. The marshals circle around Death Valley to cut McTeague off at the other side. Schouler wants to catch him personally and, having been given a set of handcuffs and a pistol, rides into Death Valley alone.

The oppressive heat slows McTeague's progress, and eventually stops him. Schouler's progress is also beginning to wane, when he spies McTeague lying in the sand, and moves in to make his arrest. After a confrontation, McTeague tells Schouler that the rest of the money is on his horse, along with the only water he has remaining. The horse, having eaten "locoweed", decides to bolt; Schouler shoots it. Schouler's bullets also puncture the drink container, spilling the water onto the desert floor. The pair, delirious from heat, fight one last time, with McTeague proving the victor; however, Schouler had snapped the cuffs on McTeague, who is now bound to Schouler's corpse. McTeague assesses his situation: In the desert with no horse, no water, handcuffed to a corpse and unable to reach the remaining money. The movie ends with a coda lamenting what men would do for a lust of gold.

Zerkow and Maria
The young woman who sold Trina the lottery ticket, Maria Miranda Macapa (Dale Fuller) lives with Zerkow (Cesare Gravina), who collects and sells junk. Maria often talks about her solid gold dining set.

Maria lives at Zerkow's small home and she and Zerkow talk about nothing but the solid gold dining set. Maria claims alternately to have never mentioned it to him, only having mentioned it once, mentioning that it was just a story, and claiming to have no knowledge of the dining set either before or after it was either lost or misplaced. Zerkow doesn't believe her, and becomes obsessed with wheedling the truth of the set's location from her. She continuously denies the information to him; the culmination of their arguments resulting in him murdering her.

Grannis and Miss Baker
In the apartment complex where Trina and McTeague first live together, two elderly borders, Charles W. Grannis (Frank Hayes) and Miss Anastasia Baker (Fanny Midgley) share adjoining rooms. Grannis and Miss Baker stand alone in the film because all of the other major characters are grotesques, whose ugly outward appearance reflects their inner character. Grannis is a kind man who buys back the McTeague's wedding picture when Trina accidentally sells it in an auction of their possessions, and Miss Baker is a sweet retired dressmaker. They live in exceptionally close quarters as the divide between their rooms is extremely thin. Throughout their stay at the complex, they have never actually met. But, they both sit close to the wall and listen to the other party for company, so it is as if they know every thing about one another. In time, they do meet, and cannot hide their long-felt feelings for each other. Eventually, they marry, and a door connects the wall between Grannis' and Miss Baker's rooms; finally, the lasting love of Grannis and Miss Baker is played out in a two-strip Technicolor sequence, shown only in stills.