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Greed (1924 film)
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===Filming=== Filming commenced in San Francisco on March 13, 1923 and concluded in October, for a total of 198 days, producing about 85 hours of footage. The San Francisco location shooting wrapped in late June.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=124}}{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=135}} Despite the initial contract between von Stroheim and Goldwyn, Lehr agreed to double the film's budget to $347,000 three days after shooting began.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1993|pp=21, 37}} Von Stroheim had already worked twenty-hour days for over two months of pre-production and collapsed on set after a few days of filming. He remained in good health for the remainder of the shoot.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=124}} This was not the only mishap on set; during scenes shot at San Francisco Bay, Cesare Gravina developed double pneumonia, making von Stroheim bitterly ashamed that Gravina's entire performance was later cut from the film, despite the actor's dedication to the role.{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=27}} Hersholt was knocked unconscious by Gowland during the picnic scene (later cut) in which McTeague and Schouler fight, and Pitts was nearly run over by a trolley.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=129}} In late May, Lehr visited von Stroheim on the set and praised the footage that he had seen, saying that "it has atmosphere, color and realism that could not possibly have been reproduced in the studio."{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=135}} One scene that von Stroheim re-shot at the studio's insistence depicted a younger McTeague in his apprenticeship with Potter. In the scene McTeague is too embarrassed to examine the teeth of a young woman and Potter has to take over. A thinly disguised ZaSu Pitts portrayed the woman so that the audience would see a resemblance to Trina, but the studio insisted that the scene was confusing and von Stroheim agreed to re-shoot it.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=135}} Von Stroheim also conceded his original vision when shooting the bar confrontation between McTeague and Schouler. The director wanted to have a knife thrower actually throw a real knife at Gowland's head; Von Stroheim was overruled by Gowland himself, who refused to participate in such a dangerous stunt. A [[special-effect]] shot was created instead.{{sfn|Finler|1968|p=52}} [[File:Greed, 1924, 19 epilogo.jpg|thumb|The [[Death Valley]] scenes, including this final sequence, were filmed over two months during midsummer, in harsh conditions.]] After filming in San Francisco finished in June, the production traveled to [[Death Valley]]. Most Hollywood films that required desert scenes settled for the local [[Oxnard]] dunes north of Los Angeles, but von Stroheim insisted on authenticity.{{sfn|Wakeman|1987|p=1074}} Death Valley had no roads, hotels, services or running water and was teeming with [[tarantulas]], [[scorpions]], [[rattlesnakes]] and [[Latrodectus|black widow spiders]]. The nearest populated area to the shoot was around {{convert|100|mi|km}} away, and insurance coverage was denied.{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=18}} Filming in Death Valley lasted through July and August 1923, allowing Gowland and Hersholt to grow the beards necessary for the sequence.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=136}} During production, the highest temperature officially recorded in Death Valley was {{convert|123|F|C}}.<ref name="Station Details Station Name: DEATH VALLEY, CA US">{{cite web|url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/GHCNDMS/stations/GHCND:USC00043603/detail |title=View Data |website=[[National Climatic Data Center]] |access-date=28 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220031546/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/GHCNDMS/stations/GHCND%3AUSC00043603/detail |archive-date=December 20, 2013}}</ref> Of the forty-three members of the cast and crew who worked on the Death Valley sequence, one cook died of [[heatstroke]] and fourteen others became ill and were sent back to Los Angeles{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=23}} [[Heat exhaustion]] was a daily occurrence for members of the crew. Hersholt spent a week in the hospital after shooting was completed, suffering from internal bleeding.{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=18}} He claimed to have lost {{convert|27|lb|kg}},{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=23}} and was covered in blisters due to severe [[sunburn]] by the end of filming. (Despite the hardship, Hersholt later stated that he considered his role in ''Greed'' to be the best of his career.){{sfn|Finler|1972|p=24}} In order to motivate Hersholt and Gibson during the scene where they fight, von Stroheim yelled at them, "Fight, fight! Try to hate each other as much as you both hate me!"{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=24}} Throughout filming, von Stroheim brought musicians on set to help create the appropriate mood for the actors. For the Death Valley scenes, he employed a [[harmonium]] and a [[violin]] player.{{sfn|Lennig|2000|p=81}} A theme inspired by the music of Italian operatic composer [[Ruggero Leoncavallo]] was composed and played throughout production. Other music included the popular songs "[[Nearer, My God, to Thee]]", "[[Hearts and Flowers]]", "[[Oh Promise Me]]", and "Call Me Thine Own".{{sfn|Curtiss|1971|p=173}} Filming moved to [[Placer County]] on September 13 and continued for less than a month. The Big Dipper Mine had been closed for ten years, so von Stroheim convinced the Goldwyn Company to lease and renovate it for filming. While first visiting Placer County during pre-production, von Stroheim had met Harold Henderson, a local resident and fan of Norris's whose brother had worked in the mine in the 1890s. Von Stroheim hired Henderson to oversee the renovation of the mine and other locations in Iowa Hill. Von Stroheim also wanted to restore the local cemetery for a newly invented scene depicting McTeague's mother's funeral, but the Goldwyn Company turned down this proposal. Inside the mine, von Stroheim usually shot at night between 9 pm and 6 am.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|pp=138β139}} Cinematographer [[William Daniels (cinematographer)|William H. Daniels]] later said that von Stroheim insisted on descending {{convert|3,000|ft|m|sigfig=1}} underground for realism, even though the setting would have looked exactly the same at {{convert|100|ft|m|sigfig=1}}.{{sfn|Finler|1972|p=26}} Filming of ''Greed'' was completed on October 6, 1923,{{sfn|Lennig|2000|p=190}} after 198 days.{{sfn|Koszarski|1983|p=140}} Despite his original contract stipulating that all films be under {{convert|8,500|ft|m|sigfig=2}}, von Stroheim shot a total of {{convert|446,103|ft|m}} of footage for the film, running approximately 85 hours.{{sfn|Lennig|2000|p=215}}
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