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
75th Anniversary
Greed is the lost American masterpiece, the Holy Grail of Hollywood's Silent Era, the missing legacy, a victim of the mania it deplored. Greed's missing hours, Stroheim's original cut, is on The Ten Most Wanted List of 'Lost' Films, compiled by The American Film Institute.
The fight over Greed was a clash of visions, muse and mammon, art and money, a temper against tacticians, personalities and unbridled ambitions. It was Von Stroheim against Thalberg and Mayer and changing times, but Greed's brilliance shines through even in its amputated form.
At the showdown in Hollywood Irving Thalberg and Erich Von Stroheim reached for their guns while Louis B. Mayer drew a bead on the terrible Hun from an upstairs window. As Von Stroheim later said, "Hollywood killed me."
The preservation of art as a testament of our human experience is a cultural necessity and the deliberate mutilation and destruction of our legacy is a crime. Though nothing can turn back the clock, a vigilant awareness is the first step to save and protect the voices and spirit of people.
The 75th Anniversary of the first showing of Greed arrives in December 1999.
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