Greed
Release date 4th December 1924
Country : USA
Running time : 140 mins
Genre : Drama
Starring Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt
 Screenplay by June Mathis based on McTeague by Frank Norris
Directed by Erich Von Stroheim

McTeague's wife wins the lottery but becomes obsessed with hoarding the gold coins to the point that it reduces them to poverty and infuriates her husband. This leads to tragedy and a man hunt in Death Valley.

Von Stroheim's masterpiece based on Frank Norris' McTeague originally lasted at least 4 hours, likely longer though the length varies in different accounts. The reaction to the lengthy version varies too, there are reports of critics awestruck by the long version, in one documentary his wife Valerie suggests they could have watched more. The problem of course was the inability of such a film to be commercial, to fit in the schedule slots of cinemas..It was inevitable really that it would be mutilated, it was reduced to 10 reels and in character Von Stroheim didn't want to look at the result. Actually it remained a great film, a cautionary tale about the drawbacks of sudden wealth. Zasu Pitts becomes obsessed with hoarding gold coins (an incredible image of long spidery hands massaging the money) . 

 

Any faint hope the film would be shown in its original version perhaps in two parts was destroyed when Goldwyn (a company headed by June Mathis who believed the director should have full creative control) merged with Metro and Mayer to become MGM the ultimate factory studio. The fate of the film was sealed when Irving Thalberg was made head of production at the new studio by Louis B. Mayer. Thalberg had previously tangled with Von Stroheim at Universal over both Foolish Wives (1922) and Merry Go Round (1923) heavily cutting the former,firing him as director from the latter.