Greed is not one of the films that often makes it on 'greatest film' lists, but I think that mostly has to do with its relative obscurity. That and the fact that it is a silent film and silent films tend to be a token choice on film lists most often appointed to Cecil B. DeMille classics, such as
Birth of a Nation.
Greed was a film based on a novel by naturalist writer Frank Norris (the same author who wrote the book that was the basis for
There Will Be Blood). And what makes it great is the prophetic vision and sheer artistry of German filmmaker Erich von Stroheim (the archetype of maniacal film directors that lives on to this day, far beyond his own infamy).
The greatest challenge of watching
Greed is primarily a tolerance for silent films, many people can't get past the perceived labor of watching one, but if you can get past it you will find a film that was far beyond its time both technically and thematically. No. 1, this was the first narrative film to be shot primarily on location (in San Francisco and Death Valley) and No. 2, it broke from the (then) traditional framework of storytelling by having no heroes or villains, but rather by telling a story about how heroes (or, at least, normal likeable people) can become paranoid, ruthless and bitter, even murderous, by the sudden appearance in their lives of a great sum of money - the story revolves around a trio of friends who are divided and destroyed by the winning of a lottery.
I'm really tired and not up to writing more right now, but it also bears mentioning that Stroheim went quite mad while making this film, most notably during the filming of its final scenes in Death Valley. There is a lot of existing material concerning this story, and I am certain there must be a wiki entry on it. Stroheim's first cut of this film was 8 hours long, and only under intense pressure from his studio did he manage to cut the film down to the 2 1/2 hours or so that is the only known version that is still existing (the version I have). And it nearly killed him.
So not only is it a superb film with fantastic camera work and superbly effective acting performances, it truly has a backstory of near mythical proportions (for the film industry). I've been waiting for years for a version to be released on DVD. I have no idea why it is not. It's perplexing.
---------- Post added at 11:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 PM ----------
I knew there had to be a wiki article on it, but it's not a very good one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed_(film)
---------- Post added at 11:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 PM ----------
And this claims that the first cut was 10 hours long, but I have always heard eight...
---------- Post added at 11:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 PM ----------
...and I just pulled out my video copy to see and the back cover says the original version was eight hours...