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
Changing Times
MGM's new plans contrasted against the old way of doing things in Hollywood. In the early years making movies was a wide-open, eclectic, innovative business, and the early films were conjured up by entrepreneurs, charlatans, actors, writers --- anyone who could do something better than the last guy.
Men like Griffith, Chaplin and Von Stroheim were made for early Hollywood, but after feature length films in the early '20s proved that the industry could be profitable, big business, big money and men like Mayer came west to mine Hollywood gold.
Management, lawyers and accounting were brought to bear on the chaotic creativity of flicks, as more and more theaters opened, and studios developed marketable properties in the same way real estate developers built roads, sewers and houses.
Greed and Ben-Hur
Von Stroheim and Greed represented everything Mayer didn't want his new MGM to be, and he was banking on another inherited Goldwyn project to promote the new MGM image to loyal ticket buyers. That movie would be Ben-Hur. It was a pious religious tale of Jesus written by a Civil War Union general that had sold millions of books. It was a pre-sold commodity and Mayer prayed would be sure-fire box office.
The Struggle
By the time Thalberg came to grips with Stroheim, June Mathis had been fired as MGM's head writer. Mayer restaffed the production of Ben-Hur, which seemed destined to crumble under its own pretenses. MGM director Rex Ingram quit the studio when Mayer didn't assign Ben-Hur to him, and Von Stroheim embarrassed Mayer in the press when he called Ingram "the world's greatest director." Though Ingram didn't get the film, he later returned to the studio, but now, Mayer knew exactly where Von Stroheim's loyalty laid.
In the fall of 1924 film writer Harry Carr, director Rex Ingram, journalist Idwal Jones and Von Stroheim watched all 40 reels of Greed, for nearly eight bone numbing hours. In the '20's a reel of film held about twenty minutes of movie time, and most films were four or five reelers.
Von Stroheim realized he needed to tighten the narrative and he worked the footage down to 24 reels, or about four hours. He brought this first director's cut to Thalberg and suggested to him that the film be released in two parts.
Thalberg said no and told Stroheim to cut footage for a standard release, of four to five reels or two hours. Thalberg was not about to fete Mayer's enemy with a high profile, artistic release.
Von Stroheim turned to his trusted friend Rex Ingram. He asked him to edit the footage and quietly shipped a print out to Ingram in New York. Ingram and his editor Grant Wheelock edited Greed down to 18 reels, and at that time they all felt that the ax was falling close to the bone. Any more cutting would destroy a masterpiece.
Von Stroheim was between a rock and a hard place but stood his ground. He delivered 18 reels as a final director's cut to Thalberg, a version that was still less than half of the original running time. Needless to say, Thalberg was not pleased with Von Stroheim, but eager to administer the final coup de grace.
Next:Man With A Hat and Backlash
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