Greed is difficult to review in depth for a few reasons. One being that there is no complete version in existence, another being that the existing copy is 4 hours long, and finally that that version is a reconstruction that uses stills for a full 2 hours of its running time. Given this, I'll do my best.

Greed's biggest strength is its characters. In the beginning, Gibson Gowland (McTeague) is striking by his awkward innocence, Zasu Pitts (his wife) by her fragility, and Jean Herscholt (his friend) by his friendliness. By the end, each has made a complete transformation: McTeague is a violent drunk, his wife is a lonely miser, and his friend is an irrational prick. Greed is a simple story, and these actors make it worth it by being human, at least at first.

In terms of film making, I wasn't impressed until when McTeague murders his wife and the final scenes in Death Valley. Viewed from today's perspective, there is nothing out of the ordinary in terms of film techniques. But considering that these techniques were being used 90 years ago, the film demands respect. It is truly groundbreaking.

Overall, I give it 3/4. If you look at specific scenes, this score could be higher, but as a whole the storytelling could be much stronger if it was edited better. It is possible that the current version does not properly capture the flow of the original, but since the original was 10 freaking hours long, I highly doubt it.

If you have the patience, I recommend it. It's never exactly boring, its just that 4 hours is too long.

I don't really mourn the loss of the ten-hour version. Even von Stroheim realized that was too long and edited it down to six hours, then to four. The last is the one I hope turns up in a vault in Transylvania. On the other hand, I've seen the four-and-a-half reconstruction of Abel Gance's La Roue, which is interminable and must have been excruciating at seven hours, so maybe I should be thankful for editors.

This airs on Sept 3 on TCM

did well in the Sight & Sound Poll(was in Guillermo del Toro's top 10)

http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound ... 2b7219ffd8