Greed (1924 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Greed is a 1924 dramatic silent film directed by Erich von Stroheim and starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller, Tempe Pigott, Sylvia Ashton, Chester Conklin, Joan Standing and Jack Curtis.
The plot follows an honest dentist whose wife wins a lottery ticket, only to become obsessed with money. When her former lover betrays the dentist as a fraud, all of their lives are destroyed.
The movie was adapted by von Stroheim (shooting screenplay) and Joseph Farnham (titles) from the 1899 novel McTeague by Frank Norris. (The onscreen credit for June Mathis was strictly a contractual obligation to her on the part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (the parent studio), as she was not actually involved in the production.)
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Production
The film is a study of the oppressive force of greed that decays and corrupts three people - an uneducated former miner and dentist (John McTeague) in turn of the century San Francisco, his miserly, vulgar and pathological wife (Trina), and their mutual friend and McTeague's ultimate nemesis (Marcus). The wife's fixation on money causes the dentist to lose everything - he kills her, becomes maddened with the same lust for gold, then takes flight only to find himself handcuffed to his dead pursuer. The film is a morality tale about how the characters are dehumanized by the influence of money upon their lives.
Erich Von Stroheim spent nine months shooting the film and a total of fifteen months writing and editing it (from 1923-1924). Production costs were close to half a million dollars.
In 1999, Turner Entertainment (the film's current rights holder) decided to "recreate", as closely as possible, the original version by combining the existing footage with still photographs from the lost scenes in accordance with an original continuity outline written by von Stroheim. This restoration, which runs almost four hours, was produced by Rick Schmidlin.
In 1991, Greed was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Cast
- Gibson Gowland as John McTeague
- Zasu Pitts as Trina
- Jean Hersholt as Marcus
- Dale Fuller as Maria
- Tempe Pigott as McTeague's mother
- Jack Curtis as McTeague's father (uncredited)
- Silvia Ashton as 'Mommer' Sieppe
- Chester Conklin as 'Popper' Sieppe
- Joan Standing as Selina
Uncredited
- James F. Fulton as Prospector Cribbens
- Cesare Gravina as Junkman Zwerkow
- Frank Hayes as Charles W. Grannis (The Modern Dog Hospital proprietor)
- Austen Jewell as August Sieppe
- Hughie Mack as Mr. Heise (harness maker)
- Tiny Jones as Mrs. Heise
- J. Aldrich Libbey as Mr. Ryer
- Reta Revela as Mrs. Ryer
- Fanny Midgley as Miss Anastasia Baker
- S.S. Simon as Joe Frenna
- Max Tyron as Uncle Rudolph Oelbermann
- Erich von Ritzau as Dr. Painless Potter
- William Mollenhauer as Palmist
- William Barlow as The Minister
- Lita Chevrier as Extra
- Edward Gaffney as Extra
- Bee Ho Gray as Extra and Knife Thrower used in saloon scene
- Harold Henderson as Extra
- Florence Gibson as Hag
- James Gibson as Deputy
- Oscar Gottell as A Sieppe twin
- Otto Gottell as A Sieppe twin
- Hugh J. McCauley as Photographer
- Jack McDonald as Placer County Sheriff
- Lon Poff as Man from the Lottery Company
- Erich von Stroheim as Balloon vendor
- James Wang as Chinese cook
See also
