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" |
Rumors of "Greed"
What happened to the original footage or print of Greed? Does it still exist? Was it destroyed? How and why was it destroyed? What follows is a list of various rumors and associated reports about the fate of Erich von Stroheim's Greed.
- These rumors come from Herman Weinberg's loving tribute "The Complete Greed" and date around 1972 when the book was printed.
- On New Year's Eve somewhere in South America the complete film is screened for a select audience.
- The Cinematique Francaise obtained a complete print from a Texas millionaire. (though the curator has denied such)
- Iris Barry of the Museum of Modern Art once said the delected footage was in MGM's vaults. (though Irving Thalberg wrote that the cuts were not preserved)
- Stroheim, himself, once told Herman Weinberg that Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, had a complete print of the film.
- A Boston film society, run by an ex-WW2-GI showed the complete film, after the GI found the print in the rubble of Berlin on a tip from actor Emil Jannings
- MGM screened the long version for actor John Houseman, according to two sources.
- David Shepard of the American Film Institute found a "long version" in a garage.
- A woman in Redwood City, California, bought the "longest existing version" of Greed in Europe.
- According to an interview which Von Stroheim gave with the NY Times during the 1940s, "Greed" was screened in its entirety in Buenos Aires. If a complete print still exists, it would be somewhere in Argentina.
