Greed

Erich von Stroheim, Goldwyn/MGM, 1924, from Frank Norris’s McTeague. A Polk Street dentist (Gibson Gowland) marries Trina (Zasu Pitts) after she wins a lottery; the money turns the marriage and his friend Marcus (Jean Hersholt). Stroheim shot on location in San Francisco and, for the last act, in Death Valley in midsummer heat. His cut ran many hours; the studio released about two. The missing reels were destroyed. What survives still ends in the desert with a pair of men and a birdcage. Norris is the source. The cut is the legend.