Editing Greed (1924 film) (section)

==Legacy==
In his final years, von Stroheim said that "of all my films, only ''Greed'' was a fully realized work; only ''Greed'' had a total validity."{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=18}} In 1926 a British foundation of arts and sciences requested a copy of the original version of ''Greed'' to keep in their archive, but their request was denied by MGM.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=148}} [[Henri Langlois]] screened the studio version of ''Greed'' for von Stroheim in 1950. Von Stroheim said, "It was for me an exhumation. It was like opening a coffin in which there was just dust, giving off a terrible stench, a couple of vertebra and a piece of shoulder bone."{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|pp=17–18}} He went on to say that "It was as if a man's beloved was run over by a truck, maimed beyond recognition. He goes to see her in the morgue. Of course, he still loves her but it's only the memory of her that he can love—because he doesn't recognize her anymore."{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=18}}

In the early 1950s ''Greed''{{'}}s reputation began to grow and it appeared on several lists of the greatest films ever made. In 1952 at the ''Festival Mondial du Film et des Beaux Arts de Belgique'', ''Greed'' was named the fifth greatest film ever made, with such directors as [[Luchino Visconti]], [[Orson Welles]], [[Luis Buñuel]] and [[Billy Wilder]] voting for it. Later in 1952, ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' magazine published its first list of the "ten greatest films ever made". ''Greed'' was tied for 7th place on that list, with such critics as Andre Bazin, [[Lotte Eisner]], [[Curtis Harrington]], [[Penelope Houston (film critic)|Penelope Houston]] and [[Gavin Lambert]] voting for it.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|p=50}} In 1962 it was tied for 4th on the same list. Since 1972 it has failed to reach a spot on the top ten.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=148}} The ''[[Cinematek|Cinémathèque royale de Belgique]]'' released a list of "the most important and misappreciated American films of all time" in 1978. ''Greed'' was third on its list after ''Citizen Kane'' and ''[[Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans]]''.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=148}} In a [[University of Southern California]] list of the "50 Most Significant American Films" made by the school's Performing Arts Council, ''Greed'' was listed as number 21.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|p=51}} In 1991, ''Greed'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="NFR1" /><ref name="NFR2" />

===Influence===
Among those who have praised ''Greed'' over the years are [[Sergei Eisenstein]];{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=10}} [[Joseph von Sternberg]], who said, "We were all influenced by ''Greed''";{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=15}} [[Jean Renoir]], who called it "the film of films";{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=16}} and [[Ernst Lubitsch]], who called von Stroheim "the only true 'novelist'" in films.{{sfn|Weinberg|1972|p=17}} More recently [[Guillermo del Toro]] called it "a perfect reflection of the anxiety permeating the passage into the 20th century and the absolute dehumanization that was to come",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/962 |title=Guillermo del Toro |website=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=June 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616132634/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/962 |archive-date=June 16, 2014}}</ref> and Norbert Pfaffenbichler said that "the last shot of the movie is unforgettable."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/1094 |title=Norbert Pfaffenbichler |website=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=June 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714224726/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/1094 |archive-date=July 14, 2014}}</ref> American writer and critic [[Susan Sontag]] named ''Greed'' one of her favorite films.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/susan-sontags-50-favorite-films.html|title=Susan Sontag's 50 Favorite Films (and Her Own Cinematic Creations)|website=Open Culture|date=December 4, 2012}}</ref> Jonathan Rosenbaum has stated that ''Greed'' was a major influence on the style and content of many films. Von Stroheim's shots filming the sun predated [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s better-known uses of the technique in ''[[Rashomon]]'' (1950). Rosenbaum compared specific shot set-ups in ''Greed'' to shots in [[King Vidor]]'s ''[[The Crowd (1928 film)|The Crowd]]'', Jean Renoir's ''[[Le Crime de Monsieur Lange]]'', Orson Welles's ''[[The Magnificent Ambersons (film)|The Magnificent Ambersons]]'', [[Howard Hawks]]' ''[[To Have and Have Not (film)|To Have and Have Not]]'' and [[Michelangelo Antonioni]]'s ''[[L'Avventura]]''. In addition, he likened certain plot elements or characters in ''Greed'' to [[John Huston]]'s ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'' (1948), [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Rear Window]]'' (1954), [[Claude Chabrol]]'s ''[[Les Bonnes Femmes]]'' (1960) and [[Elaine May]]'s ''[[Mikey and Nicky]]'' (1975). Rosenbaum singled out von Stroheim's influence on May, an American director, with ''Mikey and Nicky'' centering on the disintegration of a friendship over money and sex, and including grotesque elements and characters caught between innocence and corruption. Rosenbaum also asserts that Orson Welles's use of satirical caricatures in all of his films is in "the spirit of von Stroheim".{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|pp=52–58}}

The two films most commonly compared to ''Greed'' are Huston's ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' and Welles's ''The Magnificent Ambersons''. Rosenbaum believes that besides Huston's film ending with gold being lost in the desert and similarities between Trina's descent into madness with Fred C. Dobbs own obsessions, the two films have little else in common. ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' and ''Greed'' both have characters who struggle with class differences that lead to their downfall. ''Ambersons'' was famously edited down drastically by its studio and the cut footage is now lost. Rosenbaum goes on to state that ''Greed'' influenced the methods in which novels are adapted into films and filmmakers like Welles, Huston and [[Bill Forsyth]] followed von Stroheim's example by re-arranging the plot and adding new scenes to their films while still remaining faithful to the intentions of the original novels.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|pp=58-59}} In the first chapter of the 1966 [[serial film]] ''Captain Celluloid vs. the Film Pirates'', the uncut version of ''Greed'' is used as a [[plot device]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Devil Is Driving and Captain Celluloid vs. the Film Pirates: Chapters 1 and 2|url=https://bampfa.org/event/devil-driving-and-captain-celluloid-vs-film-pirates-chapters-1-and-2 |website=bampfa.org |publisher=[[Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive]] |access-date=February 12, 2021 |date=August 1, 1983}}</ref> The 1994 [[Jonathan Lynn]] film ''[[Greedy (film)|Greedy]]'' pays tribute to the film by giving the main characters the last name McTeague.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/greedy-1994 |title=Greedy |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]] |location=Chicago |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |access-date=October 1, 2013 |date=March 4, 1994 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070421212700/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19940304%2FREVIEWS%2F403040304%2F1023 |archive-date=April 21, 2007}}</ref>

===Reconstruction===
Attempts to reconstruct the uncut version of ''Greed'' without use of the lost footage first began in 1958. At the Brussels International Exposition, the ''Cinémathèque royale de Belgique'' named ''Greed'' as one of the twelve greatest films ever made and simultaneously published von Stroheim's original, uncut script for ''Greed'', which came directly from von Stroheim's personal copy preserved by his widow Denise Vernac.{{sfnm|1a1=Finler|1y=1972|1p=6|2a1=Weinberg|2y=1972|2p=15}} This publication led to three separate books that all used von Stroheim's script in order to reconstruct the original version of the film and compare it to the released version: a French book edited by Jacques-G. Perret in 1968 and two versions edited by Joel Finler and [[Herman G. Weinberg]], both in 1972. Weinberg's book utilized 400 individual stills and production photos to reconstruct the uncut version of ''Greed'', the first time that images from the uncut version were publicly available.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|pp=25–26}}

In 1999, [[Turner Entertainment]] decided to recreate, as closely as possible, the original version by combining the existing footage with over 650 still photographs of the lost scenes (many of which had been used in Weinberg's book),<ref name="www.jonathanrosenbaum.net">{{cite news|url=http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1999/11/fables-of-the-reconstruction-the-4-hour-greed/ |title=Fables of the Reconstruction: The 4-Hour GREED |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |newspaper=The Chicago Reader |date=November 26, 1999 |access-date=April 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219134947/http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1999/11/fables-of-the-reconstruction-the-4-hour-greed/ |archive-date=December 19, 2013}}</ref> in accordance with an original continuity outline written by von Stroheim. All materials were provided by the [[Margaret Herrick Library]].<ref name="www.jonathanrosenbaum.net"/> This restoration runs almost four hours. It was produced by [[film preservation]]ist [[Rick Schmidlin]] and edited by Glenn Morgan.<ref name="variety.com">{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/greed-2-1117752082/# |title=Review: 'Greed' |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=September 7, 1999 |access-date=April 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407142335/http://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/greed-2-1117752082/ |archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/78137 |title=Greed |last=Steffen |first=James |access-date=September 9, 2012 |website=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407102832/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article.html?isPreview=&id=495623%7C78137&name=Greed |archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> Schmidlin restored many characters and sub-plots from the original version. A new musical score was composed by [[Robert Israel (composer)|Robert Israel]]. The reconstruction cost $100,000 to produce. Schmidlin called the finished product "a reconstruction of Von Stroheim's lost narrative."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19991205/2999339/restored-greed-comes-to-turner-classic-movies |title=Restored 'Greed' Comes To Turner Classic Movies |newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=December 5, 1999 |access-date=March 28, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407062526/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991205&slug=2999339 |archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> It premiered at the 1999 [[Telluride Film Festival]] and was later screened at the [[Venice Film Festival]] and the [[Pordenone Silent Film Festival]] before being aired on [[Turner Classic Movies]] on December 5, 1999.<ref>{{cite web | last=Mills | first=Michael | year=1999 |url=http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/4456/greed99rev.htm|title=Resurrection on Polk Street|website=~Greed~ Von Stroheim's Silent Movie Classic|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000411092459/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/4456/greed99rev.htm|archive-date=April 11, 2000|access-date=September 22, 2016|via=[[GeoCities]]}}</ref> Film critic [[Todd McCarthy]] called the restored version of ''Greed'' a triumph.<ref name="variety.com"/> [[Roger Ebert]] called ''Greed'' a masterpiece and said that the restored Schmidlin cut illustrates the "prudish sensibilities [that] went into MGM's chop job."<ref name="ebert"/> Rosenbaum praised the project, but claimed it could only be considered a "study version".<ref name="www.jonathanrosenbaum.net"/> The reconstruction won a special citation from the [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1999|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lafca.net/years/1999.html |title=25th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards |website=The Los Angeles Film Critics Association |access-date=June 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006022440/http://www.lafca.net/years/1999.html |archive-date=October 6, 2014}}</ref>