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" |
Greed's Six Missing Hours
by Michael Mills
Queen Kelly
On the set of his last directorial assignment, Queen Kelly, Von Stroheim told a character to drool tobacco juice on Gloria Swanson, the woman who invented Hollywood glamour and reigning queen of the stars.
It's another Hollywood tale, and the punch line was that Stroheim was summarily dismissed. It never happened, and years later Stroheim stayed at Swanson's house during the filming of Sunset Boulevard.
Queen Kelly was ill fated from the start and scripted as a silent when films were beginning to talk. Swanson had her own production company, and the film was backed by first-time producer Joe Kennedy, whose main interest was Swanson and not movies.
At some point, the ledger sheets said it was better for Kennedy to cut his losses and pull out of Swanson's production. He did, and the film was shelved. After that Stroheim had to hustle for film work and he rarely got the call. When he acted in films, it was often to play charactures of himself. One of his most impressive performances is as Captain von Rauffenstein in Jean Renoir's '37 film The Grand Illusion, in which he played a maimed aristocrat.
Jean Renoir, the painter's son, was working in ceramics when he saw Von Stroheim's third film, Foolish Wives. He realized film was the art form of the 20th century and dropped his pots.
Sunset Boulevard
In 1950 Stroheim and Swanson were reunited for the movie Sunset Boulevard, and Stroheim was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as the butler.
He played Max Von Mayerling, a once-famous Hollywood director now a doting servant to Swanson's Norma Desmond, a once-famous Hollywood star. In one scene Swanson watches a film clip of herself in Queen Kelly, and proclaims, "I'll be up there again, so help me!"
In 1936 Stroheim wrote Paprika, a Bohemian gypsy story that he wanted to turn into a film, but it was never to be. His last bit of work was touring the Midwest in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Erich von Stroheim died on May 12, 1957 at the Chateau Maurepas in Seine-et-Oise, France.
Next: Greed's 75th Anniversary
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