It has been discussed a million times about Greed being cut down from an 8 to 10 hour movie to a 2 hour movie, so I will not go into that.
What is important is that Erich von Stroheim made an amazing movie at any length. It is a shame that Stroheim did not live in a time when the 130 minute cut would be released to theaters and the long version is released on DVD as the "Unrated Version" to try to boost sales, like now days. However, the visuals are some of the best in any movie ever made in the history of cinema. I am so glad that the restored 4 hour version with the stills has added the gold tenting and stenciling to the scenes as they originally were made. The acting is maybe the best in any silent cinema drama. Stroheim liked using comic actors for his dramas, he felt they had more understated actions to their acting as compared to the over-acting of the popular dramatic actors of the day. This is the essence of Erich von Stroheim's cinema. He cared more about realism than almost anything else. He used actual cramped apartments for the cramped apartments in the film. He even filmed in the actual locations of San Francisco and Death Valley, when all could have easily been done in the studio or in another desert. Stroheim thought for his actor's to show that they were about to pass out from 120 degree temperatures in the desert, that they needed to be actually be about to pass out from 120 degree temperatures. I lament over the fact I will probably never see a more complete version than what currently exists. I want to see the version that Stroheim originally planned, but what we do have is not necessarily a skeleton as Stroheim referred to it. It has a great amount of flesh on it, but not as much as the Director wanted. Even if only one frame of film existed it still would show an amazing achievement in the history of cinema.
What is important is that Erich von Stroheim made an amazing movie at any length. It is a shame that Stroheim did not live in a time when the 130 minute cut would be released to theaters and the long version is released on DVD as the "Unrated Version" to try to boost sales, like now days. However, the visuals are some of the best in any movie ever made in the history of cinema. I am so glad that the restored 4 hour version with the stills has added the gold tenting and stenciling to the scenes as they originally were made. The acting is maybe the best in any silent cinema drama. Stroheim liked using comic actors for his dramas, he felt they had more understated actions to their acting as compared to the over-acting of the popular dramatic actors of the day. This is the essence of Erich von Stroheim's cinema. He cared more about realism than almost anything else. He used actual cramped apartments for the cramped apartments in the film. He even filmed in the actual locations of San Francisco and Death Valley, when all could have easily been done in the studio or in another desert. Stroheim thought for his actor's to show that they were about to pass out from 120 degree temperatures in the desert, that they needed to be actually be about to pass out from 120 degree temperatures. I lament over the fact I will probably never see a more complete version than what currently exists. I want to see the version that Stroheim originally planned, but what we do have is not necessarily a skeleton as Stroheim referred to it. It has a great amount of flesh on it, but not as much as the Director wanted. Even if only one frame of film existed it still would show an amazing achievement in the history of cinema.