The novel "McTeague" by Frank Norris is one of my all-time faves, and I was flabbergasted at how well director Erich von Stroheim's obsessive adaptation of it captures the flavor of the book. Many film adaptations now can't do this well, let alone those made back when resources were much more limited than they are today.
I saw the reconstructed version aired on TCM, which clocks in at about 4 and a half hours (a mere short compared to von Stroheim's original mythical 9 hour version). Half of the movie exists as still images giving a general impression of what the film would have looked like, and it's absolutely mesmerizing even presented in this less than ideal format. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to experience it as filmed. Von Stroheim slavishly recreates every plot line and detail in the book, which I suppose might frustrate someone not as morbidly fascinated by the novel as me. I, on the other hand, thought the film was going to be a bit of an endurance test, and instead found the time flying by. I had to watch it in three installments because of time limitations, but I could easily have watched the thing in one sitting if I had been able to.
Gibson Gowland and Jean Hersholt give fantastic performances as McTeague and friend-turned-rival Marcus, but it's the character of Trina, as it is in the book, that steals the show. I was delighted to find that von Stroheim includes the scene from the novel in which Trina, who starts out as a lovely little wife and turns into a monster through obsessive frugality, rolls around in a bed littered with gold pieces. It's such a striking image in the book, and it is in the movie as well. And as Trina, Zasu Pitts is extraordinary.
"McTeague" the novel may be antiquated in its style, and "Greed" the movie in its techniques, but what the book and movie are about will never be out of fashion as long as humans and money coexist.
Grade: A+
I saw the reconstructed version aired on TCM, which clocks in at about 4 and a half hours (a mere short compared to von Stroheim's original mythical 9 hour version). Half of the movie exists as still images giving a general impression of what the film would have looked like, and it's absolutely mesmerizing even presented in this less than ideal format. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to experience it as filmed. Von Stroheim slavishly recreates every plot line and detail in the book, which I suppose might frustrate someone not as morbidly fascinated by the novel as me. I, on the other hand, thought the film was going to be a bit of an endurance test, and instead found the time flying by. I had to watch it in three installments because of time limitations, but I could easily have watched the thing in one sitting if I had been able to.
Gibson Gowland and Jean Hersholt give fantastic performances as McTeague and friend-turned-rival Marcus, but it's the character of Trina, as it is in the book, that steals the show. I was delighted to find that von Stroheim includes the scene from the novel in which Trina, who starts out as a lovely little wife and turns into a monster through obsessive frugality, rolls around in a bed littered with gold pieces. It's such a striking image in the book, and it is in the movie as well. And as Trina, Zasu Pitts is extraordinary.
"McTeague" the novel may be antiquated in its style, and "Greed" the movie in its techniques, but what the book and movie are about will never be out of fashion as long as humans and money coexist.
Grade: A+