Back in 1988 MGM in conjunction with Turner Entertainment (no Turner Classic Movies back then) released this version of Erich von Stroheim’s masterwork GREED on VHS as part of their Silent Classics series. The print used was prepared by England’s Photoplay Productions the number one restorer of silent films at the time and is based on the original release version of 1924. In 1999 Warner Bros and TCM brought out a 2 tape version of the film prepared by Rick Schmidlin with production photos used to fill in the legendary missing footage. That version weighs in at 239 minutes and while it’s great for film buffs to see what might have been, it’s easier for the ordinary viewer to see what is.
Frank Norris’ novel McTEAGUE about how money destroys the lives of a working class dentist (Gibson Gowland) and his wife (Zasu Pitts in an extraordinary performance) was expanded by von Stroheim into a film whose rough cut ran for 9 hours. The director intended the film to be 5 hrs long and divided into two parts. He sanctioned a 194 min version but MGM cut it down to 140 minutes primarily to remove the character of Zwerkow the junkman as Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg found von Stroheim’s treatment of the character too anti-semitic.
Neither version has made it to DVD but when the time comes I’m sure it will be the 239 minute one which would be too bad. As I mentioned earlier the Photoplay version approximates the original 1924 release and is much easier for a present day audience to stay with. It also comes with a dynamic full orchestral score from silent film musicmeister Carl Davis which greatly enhances the viewing experience and it features a wonderful brief introduction that tells the story of the film’s tortured history. Grab this VHS version while you can because once the other is released on DVD, this one will disappear except for maybe some Region 2 copies somewhere down the road.
The Capsule Critic 