Greed (Les rapaces)

The picture brings to light three great character performances by Gibson Gowland as McTeague, Jean Hersholt as the chum, and ZaSu Pitts as the wife.

Von Stroheim's rep, after a long dormancy, has been on the rise, and this is the best evidence of his work you'll get until someone finds those lost five hours in some Ukrainian subcellar.

Mr. von Stroheim has not missed a vulgar point, but on the other hand his direction of the effort is cunningly dramatic.

Even now its relentlessly cynical portrait of physical and moral squalor retains the ability to shock, while the Von's obsessive attention to realist detail is never prosaic.

Erich von Stroheim's Greed (1925), like the Venus de Milo, is acclaimed as a classic despite missing several parts deemed essential by its creator.

Von Stroheim's rep, after a long dormancy, has been on the rise, and this is the best evidence of his work you'll get until someone finds those lost five hours in some Ukrainian subcellar.

On behalf of the minority of film-goers who will, however even they may be shocked by [Erich von Stroheim's] fierce realism, perceive that he has made here a masterpiece in quite a new manner, one feels inclined to thank him.

A fascinating, exhilarating, immensely satisfying experience.

Even in its severely edited form Von Stroheim's masterpiece is just that; a masterpiece.

Von Stroheim's butchered masterpiece

Von Stroheim's groundbreaking film is still intriguing.

[Stroheim's] obsession with realistic detail reached its zenith during the final sequences in Death Valley, where the actors suffered hugely for the director's art.