Von Stroheim's Greed

[dx23]

The 4 hour version of Greed is available for download on iTunes.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

The 4 hour version of Greed is available for download on iTunes.

Oh, WB. #-o

[Peacock]

Please turn to page 2

[Antoine Doinel]

So the local cinematheque is showing Greed next month in both the 2 hour cut and the 4 hour reconstruction. As a newbie, which is the better entry point? My gut tells me I should just go full throttle into the reconstruction, though do the stills fudge up the pacing of the film? I realize this may be a moot question considering the film has been hacked to bits already.

[Tommaso]

I've never seen the two hour cut, but the stills clearly hold up the pacing in the longer version, which is a must-see nevertheless. My suggestion is obvious: watch the shorter version first, and then the four-hour cut to see at least a little of what is missing. The film deserves repeated viewing anyway. Hope your local cinematheque shows the short version first, of course.

[Sloper]

Seconded - the reconstruction is fascinating, but I'm not sure how much of an impression it really gives of what the film was meant to be like. I've recently been looking through the 'Complete Greed' book, which I think actually contains a lot of stills that aren't in the reconstruction, and it seems a more rewarding experience.

Some think the two-hour cut is mangled and corrupted, but for me it works beautifully, especially with Carl Davis' score. Do you know who's going to be doing the music for this showing, Antoine?

[zedz]

The restoration is a pretty disjunctive viewing experience. To me it seems more like a really convincing argument that the film was an incredible masterpiece rather than a masterpiece itself. I have to go with both - I don't think either version on its own is going to properly convey what Von Stroheim was really doing with the film.

[Antoine Doinel]

Thanks for the input guys. The downside is the Greed showings are two days apart: 2 hr version first, then the 4 hr version two days later. I'm only going to be able to commit to one, which will probably be the latter. That said, Rick Schmidlin will be presenting both which will prove to worth it alone.

As for the soundtrack, the 2 hr version (screened from a print) is going to have a live piano score (not sure what orchestration the pianist be directed to play) but the 4 hr version is being screened from a beta source, and I imagine will use whatever TCM used when they showed it as the soundtrack.

[Perkins Cobb]

As for the soundtrack, the 2 hr version (screened from a print) is going to have a live piano score (not sure what orchestration the pianist be directed to play) but the 4 hr version is being screened from a beta source, and I imagine will use whatever TCM used when they showed it as the soundtrack.

That'd definitely tip me toward seeing the short version first. And hey, there's always iTunes for the other one!

[Ben Cheshire]

That restoration has made the 2-hour version go down in priority, so we have the iTunes decision, the talk of only putting the 4 hourversion on DVD, making the theatrical cut rarer. The restoration is a frustrating headache to watch first. It's not a movie. See the 2 hour version, it's the onlyversion that's actually a movie.

[HarryLong]

I've recently been looking through the 'Complete Greed' book, which I think actually contains a lot of stills that aren't in the reconstruction...

Sounds like the LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT photo-reconstruction that, for some reason, ignores a helluva lot of stills I've seen elsewhere, including in the philip Riley book.
Why is it that MGM can't round up a better selection of their own stills for these things?

[willoneill]

Is this playing in Montreal? Where and when?

[Antoine Doinel]

Again, thanks for all the input guys. Probably going to go with the reconstruction first and then be devastated afterward by what was hacked out when I get to the 2 hr version. I know iTunes has the 4 hr reconstruction but the idea of watching Stroheim on a computer screen seems really wrong. If I had a week between screenings I would do both but my schedule just won't allow it.

willoneill, the screenings are at the end of April at the Cinematheque Quebecoise in downtown Montreal. Here's the April schedule: http://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/programma ... ril10.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Antoine Doinel]

Presenting his reconstruction last night in Montreal, Rick Schmidlin said that TCM were "talking about" releasing "Greed" on DVD in December: http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/04 ... piece.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Incidentally, I found the stills were integrated really nicely with the film. Didn't hold up the film for me at all (though it took me a good while to used to the format). Fyi, it was presented with Robert Israel's score which I imagine will be the one used for any video release.

[Peacock]

I hope they release both versions, because perhaps if the reconstruction is the only one released, there will be less demand for the theatrical and Warners will think they can get away with leaving on the back burner.

[reno dakota]

Airing on TCM on Sept. 22 at 8:30am (239 min. version). Set your DVRs!

[HarryLong]

Presenting his reconstruction last night in Montreal, Rick Schmidlin said that TCM were "talking about" releasing "Greed" on DVD in December

Was a year mentioned?

[zedz]

Presenting his reconstruction last night in Montreal, Rick Schmidlin said that TCM were "talking about" releasing "Greed" on DVD in December

Was a year mentioned?

2005

[headacheboy]

Antoine,
I watched the four hour version of Greed this a.m. on TCM. Initially I wasn't certain I could deal with the use of stills throughout either, but I got so wrapped in the various storylines I stopped noticing after a period of time. The last time I saw Greed was about 8 years ago on an MGM VHS tape from my local library. I loved it then, but this time around, wow! All the gold tinting was surprising but what I really was amazed by were the fleshed out storylines. I've just finished reading The Playlist article and who wouldn't want to see Greed on DVD come December? (Well, maybe Warner Bros might not want it released because I'm certain iTunes is selling the heck out of it!)

[HarryLong]

Presenting his reconstruction last night in Montreal, Rick Schmidlin said that TCM were "talking about" releasing "Greed" on DVD in December

Was a year mentioned?

2005

I can't wait.

[stroszeck]

Hate to bump up a thread from 2010, but has anyone heard anything about a possible DVD release of the 4 hr version? At this point I would even be grateful for a DVD-R release (kind of).

[JPJ]

Has Warner ever mentioned the possibility of releasing The crowd, Show people, The wind or Greed? Either on the Archive or as regular releases?

I think all of these were mentioned as possible releases during one of those Warner chats back in 2004 or 05.As usual with Warners,they are probably still looking for better elements.

Well, GREED was issued through iTunes a couple of years ago.

Hate to bump up a thread from 2010, but has anyone heard anything about a possible DVD release of the 4 hr version? At this point I would even be grateful for a DVD-R release (kind of).

The song remains the same.

[FilmFanSea]

The song remains the same.

A sad song, on a broken record. Sigh.

[deoliolioxenfree]

If anyone is interested "Greed" will (probably) be the featured article on the main page of Wikipedia on December 4th. If it gains any interest there it may be a good way to give WB more incentive to finally release a good DVD.

[domino harvey]

The decision-making process behind the rando daily featured article must be some weird algorithm, because the other day's was just the page for Melissa George's one-season character on Grey's Anatomy. I suspect Greed's spotlight will be met with far less interest than the DVD/Blu-ray-boosting event you are hoping for