Best Films – 1924
Erich von Stroheim’s masterpiece and one of the best silent films ever made, Greed remains a powerful indictment against the deadly sin of the title. Based on Frank Norris‘ McTeague, the film revolves around the misdeeds of a California dentist (Gibson Gowland, center), his miserly wife (ZaSu Pitts, left), and her former lover (Jean Hersholt, not in the above picture), all of whom sacrifice their selves to the all-powerful God of Dollar Bills. Stroheim’s initial cut had 47 reels, though eventually Greed was pared down to 10 reels (approximately 2h15m). That is all that is known to survive from the original film. But in spite of the drastic cuts, many of Stroheim’s magnificently perverted excesses are very much in evidence in this unforgettable journey into both inner and outer hell.
FILM
The Enchanted Cottage
d: John S. Robertson; scr: Josephine Lovett; titles: Gertrude Chase
Greed
d & scr: Erich von Stroheim; titles: June Mathis
He Who Gets Slapped
d: Victor Sjöström (aka Victor Seastrom); scr: Victor Sjöström and Carey Wilson
The Thief of Bagdad
d: Raoul Walsh & Douglas Fairbanks; scr: Douglas Fairbanks and Lotta Woods
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Black Oxen
d: Frank Lloyd; scr: Frank Lloyd, Mary O’Hara
Der Letzte Mann / The Last Laugh
d: F. W. Murnau; scr: Carl Mayer
The Marriage Circle
d: Ernst Lubitsch; scr: Paul Bern
The Sea Hawk
d: Frank Lloyd; scr: J. G. Hawks; titles: Walter Anthony
The Turmoil
d: Hobart Henley; scr: Edward T. Lowe, Jr.
ACTOR
Richard Barthelmess (The Enchanted Cottage)
Lon Chaney (He Who Gets Slapped)
George Hackathorne (The Turmoil)
Emil Jannings (The Last Laugh)
Percy Marmont (K–The Unknown)
William V. Mong (Thy Name Is Woman)
ACTRESS
Enid Bennett (The Red Lily)
Eleanor Boardman (The Turmoil)
Laura La Plante (Butterfly)
May McAvoy (The Enchanted Cottage)
ZaSu Pitts (Greed)
Norma Shearer (He Who Gets Slapped)
Virginia Valli (K–The Unknown)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Conrad Veidt (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett / Waxworks)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Margarita Fischer (K–The Unknown)
Dorothy Gish (Romola)
Marie Prevost (The Marriage Circle)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Joseph H. August (Dante’s Inferno)
Norbert Brodine (Black Oxen)
Norbert Brodine (The Sea Hawk)
William H. Daniels, Ben F. Reynolds & Ernest B. Schoedsack (Greed)
Karl Freund (The Last Laugh)
Victor Milner (The Red Lily)
Milton Moore (He Who Gets Slapped)
Ray Overbaugh, William Schurr & Ferdinand Risi (Romola)
Charles Rosher (Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall)
Hendrik Sartov, G.W. Bitzer, Marcel Le Picard & Harold S. Sintzenich (America)
"Best Films of …" Annual List
1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
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Tags: Best Films, Classic Movies, Conrad Veidt, Douglas Fairbanks, Eleanor Boardman, Emil Jannings, Enid Bennett, Erich von Stroheim, George Hackathorne, Gibson Gowland, Greed, He Who Gets Slapped, Laura La Plante, Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, Richard Barthelmess, Silent Films, The Enchanted Cottage, The Last Laugh, The Sea Hawk, The Thief of Bagdad, The Turmoil, Victor Sjöström, ZaSu Pitts
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