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24.91.201.174
Turner still has not released on DVD their four hour "restored" version of this 1924 Erich vin Stroheim masterpiece so when I need a fix like I did last night I have to rely on my laserdisc. It features a wonderful score by Carl Davis as well as a brief documentary at trhe beginning outlining the checkered history of the film. I always marvel at how poweful parts of this film are and like many here fantasize about seeing the original nine hour cut (which, of course, no longer exists). Highly recommended and one of the greatest films ever made regardless of genre.
Follow Ups:
It's appalling that the special Academy Award for "creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production" is named for the troglodyte Irving Thalberg who ordered the destruction of 30+ reels of Greed . I can understand why Thalberg wanted the movie cut down to a commercially practical length from Von Stroheim's original 10 hour running time, but destroying all the excised material to teach Von Stroheim a lesson was the act of a cretinous barbarian.
I thought that the reason for the destruction was the extraction of silver from the film stock.
Recovering the silver from the Greed negatives has been the "official" explanation for the uncivilized boor Thalberg's vandalism, but it's clear from the history of escalating disputes between the director and the executive that Thalberg's real reason was to teach Von Stroheim who was the boss. Thalberg and Meyer saw movie making as nothing more than manufacturing, and eccentric craftsmen like Von Stroheim did not fit into MGM's new assembly line model. Destroying the extra Greed footage was unnecessary and petty. Thalberg had already won; Greed had been cut down to two hours and Von Stroheim brought to heel. Thalberg was too stupid and too bound up with hate for the director to imagine that preserving the film in its entirety could someday work to MGM's advantage. A 10 hour Greed would never have been profitable but it could have earned good will and respect for the studio. Hell, MGM even could have used parts of it as stock footage.
c
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