Greed (1924)

The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.

Director:

Erich von Stroheim

Writers:

June Mathis (screen adaptation and scenario), Erich von Stroheim (screen adaptation and scenario)

Stars:

Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Zasu Pitts	...	Trina
Gibson Gowland	...	McTeague
Jean Hersholt	...	Marcus
Dale Fuller	...	Maria
Tempe Pigott	...	Mother McTeague
Sylvia Ashton	...	'Mommer' Sieppe (as Silvia Ashton)
Chester Conklin	...	'Popper' Sieppe
Joan Standing	...	Selina

Storyline

John McTeague was a simple slow man who became a dentist after working at the Big Dipper Gold Mine. He is now being hunted in Death Valley by his ex-best friend Marcus and the law. His lot was cast the day that he meet his future wife Trina in his office. She was with Marcus and she bought a lottery ticket. Well Mac fell for her and Marcus stepped aside. When Mac and Trina married, she won the Lottery for $5000 and became obsessive about the money in gold. Marcus is steamed as he stepped aside and now she is rich so he has the law shut down Mac as he has no official schooling for his dentistry. Trina fearful that they will take her gold away sells everything and takes all Mac earns when he is working. She adds to her stash of gold as they both live as paupers. When Mac has no job and no money, he leaves and Trina moves. Driven to desperation at being poor and hungry he finds Trina and demands the gold.

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Plot Keywords:

national film registry | man hits a woman | barbershop | lottery | gold | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller | Western

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 January 1925 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pohlepa

Filming Locations:

16th Street, Oakland, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$546,883 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$161,800, 31 December 1926

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min 239 min (1999 reconstructed) 130 min (original)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Color (Handschiegel Color) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Took two years to shoot.

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Goofs

After Marcus breaks McTeague's pipe and throws a knife at him, men pull McTeague's tie off as they hold him back. The tie is back in place a moment later as McTeague rushes out of the saloon.

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Quotes

McTeague: The part I liked best was the guy that played 'Nearer My God to Thee' on the beer bottles.

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Alternate Versions

Version 7, a 239 minute cut, is the restored version (Turner Entertainment, 1999) by Rick Schmidlin using the existing footage and still photographs of the deleted scenes (done a la recent restorations of A Star Is Born and Lost Horizon). This was produced according to an original and detailed continuity outline by director Erich von Stroheim to bring it as close to the Director's Cut as possible. This version also contains a stereo score by Robert Israel.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood Mavericks (1990)

User Reviews

key silent with surprising images

Erich von Stroheim made his film version of Frank Norris' novel ‘McTeague', and, as is well-known, it lasted over eight hours. The version which has survived is obviously nothing near that length, and cuts out many of the subplots from the book which had been planned and filmed.

What has survived is a broken masterpiece, starring Gibson Gowland, ZaSu Pitts, and Jean Hersholt, which is full of memorable images (not just the final sequences in the desert, but the trip out where McTeague and Trina fall awkwardly in love, and the scene where Trina rolls literally in the golden coins strewn on her bed) and makes you long for more of this film to turn up from the vaults.

There is a marvellous book available which reconstructs much of the lost material through stills, and much of this was amalgamated with the existing footage to ‘restore' the film during the late 1990s. Even in its butchered state, Greed is well worth a look.