“No matter if I would talk to you three weeks steadily could I possibly describe even to a small degree the heartache I suffered through the mutilation of my sincere work.” — Erich von Stroheim
Along with the butchered and destroyed original edit of Orson Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons,” Erich von Stroheim’s original version of “Greed” is considered one of the great, lost films in cinema history.
The story, is one that’s all too familiar: already adapted twice, Stroheim set out to capture Frank Norris’ novel “McTeague” in all its depth and complexity and when he was done, he had a film that ran nearly nine hours in length. This version of the film was shown in a screening to a small audience of industry insiders and was met with rave reviews, with viewers declaring it a masterpiece that was going to change cinema history. However, still not satisfied, Stroheim continued to edit the film (there is some contention whether it was his initial choice or studio pressure) and brought in what he considered to be his final cut, somewhere between 4 and 5 hours, with the intention that the film be released and viewed in two parts. However, studio head Irving Thalberg, who acquired Goldwyn during production, demanded the further cuts, removed the film from Stroheim’s control and had the film hacked further (excising many subplots entirely and re-arranging key scenes) into its currently known version, running a little under 2 1/2 hours. The footage that was left of the cutting room floor is largely believed to have been incinerated, as was common practice at the time.
In 1999, Turner Classic Movies decided to “recreate” the film as close to Stroheim’s intention as possible, and with the assistance of preservationist and scholar Rick Schmidlin (who also worked on the restoration of Welles’ “Touch Of Evil”). Utilizing a continuity script of the four hour version found in Belgium, and a staggering number of production stills from many of the deleted sequences, combined with the currently available edit of the film, Schmidlin put together what he prefers to call the “original story narrative” of the film. The resulting edit, running about four hours, has been broadcast on TCM and had a brief, limited run on VHS before going out of print. Fans have long been clamoring for the project to find new life on DVD and it looks like their voices are about to heard.
Presenting his 4-hour reconstruction at a screening last night in Montreal, Schmidlin mentioned that TCM were “talking about” a December DVD release for his edit of Stroheim’s “Greed.” While this edit is, somewhat bizarrely, currently available on iTunes (because that’s where silent film lovers just love to watch their movies) it’s exactly the kind of film that begs for the deluxe DVD treatment (the theatrical version was also issued on laserdisc in 1995). While details on what the disc might include weren’t revealed, we think that a set that includes both the theatrical version and reconstructed edit along with some special features isn’t too much to ask. However, Schmidlin did seem to indicate it was just talks at this point and was nothing concrete, but let’s hope TCM moves forward.
This writer watched “Greed” for the first time last night, in the reconstructed edit, and found it be a breathtaking, sprawling tale of three lives corrupted by an insatiable thirst for money. From the footage that still exists, Stroheim’s talents for composition is still admirably on display, and the added stills help elaborate the director’s operatic, melodramatic and tragic tale that weaves multiple storylines into a fascinating whole. While some complain the stills bring the film to a halt, this writer disagrees and found the viewing experience to be quite involving, and certainly aided by Robert Israel‘s score. Here’s hoping that TCM allows a new and bigger audience to experience Stroheim’s film in both versions in a release that will bring some attention to one of Hollywood’s early masters.