Greed (1925 movie)

Greed is1925 dramatic silent movie about an honest dentist whose wife winslottery ticket, onlybecome obsessedmoney. When her former lover betraysdentist asfraud, alltheir livesdestroyed. It stars Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean HersholtChester Conklin.

The movie was adapted by Joseph Farnham (titles)June Mathis fromnovel McTeague by Frank Norris. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim.

The story ofmaking ofmovie has becomeHollywood legend. Von Stroheim attemptedfilmversion ofbook completeevery detail. To captureauthentic spirit ofstory, he insisted onfilming on locationSan Francisco andSierra Nevada mountains, despite harsh conditions. The result wasfinal print offilm that was over ten hourslength, produced atcostover $500,000--an unheardsum at that time. The studio forced himeditfilm tomore manageable length,he reluctantly deliveredprint withrunning timejust over four hours. The film was then removed from his controlcut further, despite his protests. Even key characters were removed fromfinal version so thatcould be screened inreasonable timeframe. Existing printsGreed run at about two hourstwenty minutes. The hourscut film were destroyed,this filmknown as one ofmost famous "lost" moviesHollywood. (Other classic filmsmissing footage include Orson Welles's The Magnificent AmbersonsFrank Capra's Lost Horizon.)

The film has been selectedpreservation inUnited States National Film Registry.