I recently saw the 2.5-hour version on Turner Classic Movies. I understand the original was approx. 9 hours, and that TCM does have a 4-hour restored version. I hope to catch the 4-hour version at some point.
The 2.5-hour version was hard to follow in spots, mainly because there was definitely a loss of continuity, especially in the relationship between the two main characters, Mac and Trina.
I was confused by Mac's character. On the one hand, he is very kind to animals (a character trait that I find attractive). On the other hand, he was a mean SOB. Perhaps the 9-hour version or the 4-hour restored version addresses these two sides of his personality better than the 2.5-hour version does; I don't know.
I enjoyed the symbolism of the canaries (they were lovey-dovey when Trina and Mac were getting along; they were fighting each other when Trina and Mac were fighting; when Mac was finally alone in the desert he had only one canary, which made me wonder what happened to the second "Trina" canary).
Also charming was the primitive, quaint "special effects" of gold-tinting certain portions of the film. As a 21st-century viewer I was charmed by its simplicity, and wondered how the viewers in 1924 found these effects.
Another aspect of the film that I enjoyed were the LOCATION SHOTS! I didn't even know they did location shots in 1924! Having been born in San Francisco and lived in the bay area all my life, it was fantastic to see the location shots of S.F. and Oakland circa the early 1920s.
I won't give away the plot of the movie. The reader can check out other IMDb'ers comments for plot summaries. I will only say that, even though much of the movie was hard to follow due to the aforementioned continuity problems, I did still get the gist of the movie, and it was enough for me to fully appreciate the magnificent ending in the desert. The symbolism and the irony were just beyond fantastic.
Finally, for those (me included) who thought the first swear word in a movie was from Gone With the Wind ("Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"), I'm guessing that's the first POST-CODE swear word. I've heard "damn" in some pre-codes, and in the silent "Greed", there are "damn"s a'plenty, as well as a couple of "hell"s. Just a little piece of trivia!
Even chopped up at 2.5 hours, I have to give this movie a 9/10. I loved the story, and I loved the tragic ending.
EDITED 2/7/06 TO ADD: I just saw the 4 hr restored version - it is magnificent and is head-and-shoulders above the 2.5 hr version. The reconstruction is wonderfully accomplished with stills (the camera moves fluidly over the stills, so that at many times I forgot I was looking at actual "stills"), and the missing story is filled in with excerpts from the book that the film is based on. I finally understood Mac and Trina's relationship with this version! Interestingly, there were two other couples in this movie with separate sub-plots of their own (elderly Mr. Grannis and Miss Baker, and the brutal, hard-scrapple Maria and Zerkow). These couples were completely cut from the 2.5 hr version, but their stories were told in full via stills in the 4 hr version. I don't think their stories added anything particularly significant to the overall story of Mac and Trina and Marcus.
Hold out for the 4 hr version to get the full impact of this fantastic silent film!
The 2.5-hour version was hard to follow in spots, mainly because there was definitely a loss of continuity, especially in the relationship between the two main characters, Mac and Trina.
I was confused by Mac's character. On the one hand, he is very kind to animals (a character trait that I find attractive). On the other hand, he was a mean SOB. Perhaps the 9-hour version or the 4-hour restored version addresses these two sides of his personality better than the 2.5-hour version does; I don't know.
I enjoyed the symbolism of the canaries (they were lovey-dovey when Trina and Mac were getting along; they were fighting each other when Trina and Mac were fighting; when Mac was finally alone in the desert he had only one canary, which made me wonder what happened to the second "Trina" canary).
Also charming was the primitive, quaint "special effects" of gold-tinting certain portions of the film. As a 21st-century viewer I was charmed by its simplicity, and wondered how the viewers in 1924 found these effects.
Another aspect of the film that I enjoyed were the LOCATION SHOTS! I didn't even know they did location shots in 1924! Having been born in San Francisco and lived in the bay area all my life, it was fantastic to see the location shots of S.F. and Oakland circa the early 1920s.
I won't give away the plot of the movie. The reader can check out other IMDb'ers comments for plot summaries. I will only say that, even though much of the movie was hard to follow due to the aforementioned continuity problems, I did still get the gist of the movie, and it was enough for me to fully appreciate the magnificent ending in the desert. The symbolism and the irony were just beyond fantastic.
Finally, for those (me included) who thought the first swear word in a movie was from Gone With the Wind ("Frankly my dear I don't give a damn"), I'm guessing that's the first POST-CODE swear word. I've heard "damn" in some pre-codes, and in the silent "Greed", there are "damn"s a'plenty, as well as a couple of "hell"s. Just a little piece of trivia!
Even chopped up at 2.5 hours, I have to give this movie a 9/10. I loved the story, and I loved the tragic ending.
EDITED 2/7/06 TO ADD: I just saw the 4 hr restored version - it is magnificent and is head-and-shoulders above the 2.5 hr version. The reconstruction is wonderfully accomplished with stills (the camera moves fluidly over the stills, so that at many times I forgot I was looking at actual "stills"), and the missing story is filled in with excerpts from the book that the film is based on. I finally understood Mac and Trina's relationship with this version! Interestingly, there were two other couples in this movie with separate sub-plots of their own (elderly Mr. Grannis and Miss Baker, and the brutal, hard-scrapple Maria and Zerkow). These couples were completely cut from the 2.5 hr version, but their stories were told in full via stills in the 4 hr version. I don't think their stories added anything particularly significant to the overall story of Mac and Trina and Marcus.
Hold out for the 4 hr version to get the full impact of this fantastic silent film!