Erich Von Stroheim's "Greed"
Greed's Missing Hours
My article on "Greed's" missing pieces.
Greed Reconstructed
The six hour reconstructed version.
Background
On various aspects of the story and film.
Greed Picture Book
Stills and photos from "Greed" and Von Stroheim's career.
Links
Silents, Von Stroheim, Pitts, Norris, San Francisco, et al.
 | Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic motion picture "GREED" |
Footage, Thalberg & Von Stroheim
Screen time was one of the battles in the war over Greed.
Here's a rundown of the reel fight.Of Reel Time: The official projection rate of a silent film was 16 frames per second, but by the mid-1920s the actual rate was between 18 and 22 frames a second. The actual presentation of a film could vary widely from theater to theater, where a ticket was usually sold for one two-hour program. To show the main feature, newsreels and other short subjects within the two hour program, theaters cut scenes at will or ran the longer films at faster speeds to save time. In the 1920's most films were four or five reelers.
- Raw footage: 130 reels of film reportedly were shot by von Stroheim during the nine month's of location shooting. (February - July 1923 in San Francisco and July- August in Death Valley.)
- The Rough Cut: variously reported as either 40 or 42 reels, running time 8 - 10 hours and sometimes referred to as the complete version or unedited version. This version was screened late in '24 by film writer Harry Carr, director Rex Ingram, journalist Idwal Jones and von Stroheim. This would have been an assembled rough cut.
- First cut: 24 reels, running time about 4 hours. Von Stroheim wanted the film shown in two parts, but this version was rejected by MGM and Thalberg as too long.
- Director's final cut: 18 reels, running time about 3 hours. Von Stroheim quietly shipped a print to his good friend and fellow director Rex Ingram in New York. Working with his regular editor Grant Whytock, Ingram edited the print with a clear artistic eye, and this was the final Stroheim-approved version. Shortly thereafter MGM took the project and all footage away from von Stroheim.
- Released edition: 10 reels, about 2 hours. Thalberg ordered MGM employee Joe W. Farnham, the man with the hat, to cut the final release using the Ingram version as a guide. This was the version released in 1924 and the version now available.
- The 1924 release was hand tinted. All gold objects and all that glittered that wasn't gold, like birdcages, canaries, dental fillings and brass bedstands, were colored by hand to look like gold. This was von Stroheim's doing.
- Greed premiered at William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Theater on Columbus Circle in New York in December 1924.
- Mayer's final cut: he opened it as a Christmas movie!
