Greed (Original photograph of Gibson Gowland and Zasu Pitts from the 1924 film)

N.p.: N.p., 1924. Vintage reference photograph from the 1924 film, showing actors Gibson Gowland and Zasu Pitts. National Film Archive stamp on the verso, along with annotations in manuscript ink and pencil.

From the archive of film historian and author Joel Finler.

Based on the 1899 novel "McTeague" by Frank Norris. An impoverished miner-turned-dentist wins the lottery, but the ensuing fortune threatens to ruin the lives of everyone it touches. Director Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece, one of the first films to be shot entirely on location, in San Francisco and Death Valley, using (what were then considered) sophisticated and relatively new filming techniques, such as montage editing and deep focus.

Stroheim's first cut of the film was a mammoth, 9.5 hour presentation, edited down to two and a half hours against his wishes. All that survives today is a restored, slightly choppy but coherent 240-minute version, supplanted with still photographs, that conveys to the viewer the unimaginable grandeur of the original.

10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, with light toning and a slight curl, and moderate soil on the verso.

National Film Registry. Ebert I. Godard, Histoire(s) du cinema. Rosenbaum 1000.