Greed
1
LOUIS B. MAYER
presents
An
ERICH VON STROHEIM
PRODUCTION
2
GREED
3
Screen adaptation and Scenario
by
June Mathis
and
Erich von Stroheim
4
Edited by
Jos. W. Farnham
Settings by
Cedric Gibbons
Photography by
Ben F. Reynolds and
Wm. H. Daniels
5
Produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Corporation
Released through
Metro-Goldwyn Distributing
Corporation
Controlled by Loew's Incorporated
COPYRIGHT MCMXXIV IN U.S.A. BY METRO
GOLDWYN PICTURES CORPORATION. All rights
reserved by INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF
BUENOS AIRES
6
From the
American Classic
7 [book]
McTEAGUE
BY FRANK
NORRIS
8
"I never truckled; I never took off
the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies.
By God, I told them the truth. They liked it
or they didn't like it. What had that to do with
me? I told them the truth; I knew it for the
truth then, and I know it for the truth now."
FRANK NORRIS.
9
THE CAST
Trina ......... Zasu Pitts
McTeague ..... Gibson Gowland
Marcus ...... Jean Hersholt
Maria ....... Dale Fuller
Mother McTeague .. Tempe Pigott
"Mommer" Sieppe ... Silvia Ashton
"Popper" Sieppe ... Chester Conklin
Selina ....... Joan Standing
10
PERSONALLY DIRECTED
by
Erich von Stroheim
11
Dedicated
to
my mother
12
THE BIG DIPPER
GOLD MINE
Placer County, California.
A.D. 1908.
13
GOLD - GOLD - GOLD - GOLD
BRIGHT AND YELLOW, HARD AND COLD,
MOLTEN, GRAVEN, HAMMERED, ROLLED,
HARD TO GET AND LIGHT TO HOLD;
STOLEN, BORROWED, SQUANDERED - DOLED.
14
Such was McTeague.
15
Such was Mother
McTeague.
16
Filled with the one idea of
having her son enter a
profession and rise in life ...
the chance came at last to
Mother McTeague.
17
His mother's ambition
was fired ... and Mac
went away with the
dentist to learn his
profession.
18
Mac learned dentistry, after
a fashion, through
assisting the charlatan ....
and, years later, on Polk
Street in San Francisco, "Doc"
McTeague was established.
19
"Have a seat, Marcus."
20
"Trina, Mac's the strongest
duck you ever seen --
by damn!"
21
"That's Maria ... she
keeps Mac's place
clean. She's cuckoo
in the head."
22
"Buy a ticket in the
lottery?"
23
"-- just a dollar!"
24
"Go 'long with you!
Lotteries is against
the law!"
25
"-- the butcher in the
next block won twenty
dollars the last drawing!"
26
"Mac, old pal, I wantcha
to shake hands with
my cousin, Trina Sieppe.
She's my sweetie!"
27
"Don't you hurt her
too much, Mac."
28
"So long, Mac, I got to
do some work yet ...
at the dog hospital."
29
"Don't do anything I
wouldn't do .... you
know!"
30
"I guess I'll have to pull
them three teeth and
make you a bridge."
31
"Oh no! That will cost
too much, won't it?"
32
For the first time in his
life, McTeague felt an
inkling of ambition to
please a woman.
33
During the next two
weeks Trina was
a daily patient.
34
"Ether ... not so
dangerous as
gas."
35
So Mac administered
the ether.
36
But below the fine fabric
bred of his mother, ran
the foul stream of hereditary
evil ... the taint of generations
given through his father.
37
Terrified at his weakness,
McTeague threw himself
once more into his work with
desperate energy ... until he
finished.
38
"Oh, Mac's all right ...
by damn!"
39
Trina was to come
no more.
40
His dream was gone.
41
The following Sunday,
Marcus took Mac to
the Cliff House.
42
"What's the matter with
you these days, Mac ...
huh?"
43
"It's ... it's ... Miss Sieppe!"
44
"You mean ... that you,
too --"
45
"She's been the first
girl I've ever known.
I couldn't help myself!"
46
"-- I was so close
to her -- "
47
"-- an' smelled her
hair --"
48
"-- an' felt her
breath!"
49
"Oh! ... you don't
know!"
50
"Well ... what are we
goin' to do 'bout it?"
51
"I'll give her up to you,
old man --"
52
"-- by damn!"
53
"Friends for life --"
54
"-- or ... death!"
55
"I'm ... much ... obliged,
Marcus. I'm much ...
obliged!"
56
Then, with unselfish friend-
ship for his "pal", Marcus
took Mac to Oakland the
next Sunday ... that he
might again be with Trina
and meet her folks.
57
"Mac, this is Trina's
father!"
58
"Sure glad t' know
ya, Mr. Sieppe."
59
"Mommer!"
60
"Doc,...shake hands
with my cousin, Selina."
61
"Here's where we shell
out, Mac."
62
"Gimme four bits!"
63
"I ain't got no money
with me ... only a dime!"
64
What a day that was
for McTeague ... what
a never-to-be-forgotten
day!
65
Weeks passed and March
rains put a stop to their
picnics ... but Mac saw
Trina every Wednesday and
Sunday.
66
"Let's go over and
sit on the sewer."
67
"-- 'Hearts and
Flowers'?"
68
"No ... but, 'Nearer My
God to Thee'."
69
"Say, Miss Trina,...
why can't us two get
married?"
70
"Why not? Dontcher
like me well enough?"
71
"Then ... why not?"
72
"Because!"
73
First .... chance had brought
them face to face; now ....
mysterious instincts, as
ungovernable as the winds
of the heavens, were knitting
their lives together.
74
"Let me go alone ....
please!"
75
"-- you may ... you
may come Sunday!"
76
"Can't I kiss ya again?"
77
"I've got her! By God ...
I've got her!!"
78
Trina and Mac became
engaged. The event
was celebrated with a
theatre party.
79
"I liked the lady best ...
who sang those sad
songs."
80
"I liked pest ... der
yodlers!"
81
"I liked best ... the fellow
who played 'Nearer My
God to Thee' ... on the
beer bottles."
82
"Pehave!"
83
And afterwards, there
was to be "some-
thing to eat" at Mac's
dental parlors.
84
"Your lottery ticket has
won five thousand
dollars!"
85
"Oh! .... there's
a mistake!"
86
"On presentation of your
ticket .... you will receive
a check for five thousand
dollars!"
87
"Vat efer vill you do
mit all dose money,
Trina?"
88
"Get married on it ....
for one thing!"
89
"Can't we go into your
parlors and celebrate?"
90
The party ended late. Mac
and Marcus gave up their
rooms to Trina, "Der
Mommer" and little
"Owgooste".
91
"Oh, Mac! Think of all
this money coming to
us .... just at this
moment."
92
"Come along, Mac. We've
gotta sleep with the
dogs tonight you know."
93
"What a damn fool
I was --"
94
"-- if I'd a' kept
Trina, I'd a' had ...
five thousand
bucks!"
95
"-- damn the luck!"
96
Trina and Mac were married
a month later in the
photographer's rooms that
Mac rented for their future
home.
97
-- and then they
viewed the gifts.
98
-- and then, for two
full hours, they gorged
themselves.
99
-- then, came the
farewell.
100
"Doktor ... pe goot to
her! Pe vairy goot
to her ... von't you?"
101
"Der's nuttin' to pe
'fraid oaf! Go to your
husban'."
102
The early months of married
life wrought changes.
Since her lottery winning,
Trina feared their good luck
might lead to extravagance;
and her normal instinct for
saving became a passion.
103
"I haven't no small
change, Mac."
104
For quite some time,
McTeague had his
eye on a little house ....
that they might be by
themselves.
105
"What d'yer think?"
106
"We can't afford such
extravagance. Thirty-
five dollars ... and the
water extra!"
107
In the new order of
life, Trina reduced
Mac's visits to Frenna's
Saloon to one night
a week.
108
"Say, Mac .... when are
ya gonna pay me that
money you owe me?"
109
"Huh? Do ... I ... owe ...
you ... any money?"
110
"Well, you owe me ...
four bits! I paid for
you and Trina that
day ... at the picnic!"
111
"You oughta have told
me before."
112
"I'm ... I'm much obliged
to you, Marcus."
113
"-- and you never paid
me for sleepin' in my
dog hospital the night
you was engaged, either!"
114
"Do you mean ... I ....
I shoulda paid for that,
too?"
115
"Well,... you'd a' had
to pay four bits for
a bed anywheres!"
116
"What's the matter with
you lately, Marcus?
Is there somethin' I've
done?"
117
"All I know is ... that
I been soldiered out of
my girl --"
118
"-- an' out o' my
money!"
119
"Do I get any o' them
five thousand bucks
from the lottery?"
120
"It ain't mine to give!"
121
"You're drunk! ... that's
what you are!"
122
"Am I gonna get some
o' that money?"
123
"-- I'm through with
you!!"
124
"He broke my pipe!!"
125
"-- he can't make
small o' me!"
126
"He broke my
pipe! --"
127
Marcus' attack was soon a
forgotten incident. Mac's
moods of wrath always faded
in Trina's company.
128
"-- Mommer wants ...
me --"
129
"-- wants ... US --"
130
"-- to send her fifty
dollars."
131
"Well, I guess we
can send it ......
can't we?"
132
"I wonder if Mommer
thinks we're millionaires?"
133
"Trina, you're gettin' to
be a regular stingy!
You're gettin' worse and
worse every day!"
134
"But .... fifty dollars
is fifty dollars!"
135
"Well, you got a lot
saved up ... and besides,
you still got all o'
your five thousand."
136
"Don't talk that way,
Mac! That money is
never ... never going
to be touched!"
137
"If Mommer really needs
the money so badly ....
she'll write again."
138
Trina's miserly attitude grew
steadily through the
following months ... but her
brusque outbursts of affection
kept her tolerable to the
slow-thinking McTeague.
139
"Well .... bygones is
bygones, ain't they,
Mac?
140
"Sure!"
141
"Well ... how's business,
Doc?"
142
"-- plenty o' money?"
143
"-- lots to do?"
144
"Everythin' just fine ....
huh?"
145
"We've got lots to do -"
146
"-- but we haven't got
no money!"
147
"Well,... I'm goin' away.
Goin' in cattle ranchin
with a English duck."
148
"Comin' back? Why,...
I ain't never comin' back."
149
"I came t' say
'goodbye'."
150
"I guess we won't never
see each other again."
151
"I guess so."
152
"Good luck .... t' you
both!"
153
"Goodbye! That's the
best thing I ever heard
Marcus say."
154
So Marcus had left ....
left for good. Never
again should they be
disturbed by him.
155
"Why .... it isn't
possible!"
156
"Well .... I ain't gonna
quit for just a piece
o' paper!"
157
"Go on, Mac! Get all
the money you can
before they make
you stop."
158
"It's MARCUS .... that's
done it! --"
159
"-- damn his soul!!"
160
Only little by little did
the McTeagues
understand the calamity
that had befallen them.
161
"I got ev'rythin' fixed,
an' ready an' waitin' ...
an' nobody's ever
gonna come any
more."
162
"That's the way to
rub it out ... by me
crying on it."
163
"If...I...ever...meet...
MARCUS SCHOULER!"
164
"If...you...ever...do!"
165
With the stopping of
McTeague's practice, the
grind began. Trina sold
everything; she worked at
toy whittling that her money
might remain untouched.
166
"They fired me!"
167
"Isn't there another
surgical instrument
factory in town?"
168
"Yes...there's...there's
two more."
169
"We're losing money
every second you sit
here! --"
170
"-- and we cannot
afford it!"
171
"They paid you ...
didn't they?"
172
"-- always money!"
173
"Better gimme a nickel
for carfare --"
174
"-- it's a long walk --"
175
"-- an' it's gonna rain."
176
"A big fellow like
you ... 'fraid of a little
walk!"
177
"You oughta taken
a car."
178
"You're goin' to catch
your death o' cold!"
179
"Two straight, Joe."
180
"It kind o' disagrees
with me."
181
"Aw ... hell! You'll die ...
if you stand 'round
soaked like that."
182
Gold was her master ....
a passion with her,
a mania, a veritable
mental disease.
183
"Did you get a place?"
184
"Did you ... get caught ...
in the rain?"
185
"Wouldn't even gimme
a nickel ... for carfare!"
186
"I didn't know it was
going to rain."
187
"Didn't I tell you
it was?"
188
"You ain't gonna make
small o' me .... all the
time!"
189
"Did you ... get
a place?"
190
"Gimme back the money
I gave ya!"
191
"I ... paid ... the grocery
bill with it."
192
"I don't believe ya!"
193
"Why, Mac ... do you think
I'd lie to you?"
194
"Did you ... get
a place?"
195
"Ain't that fine?"
196
"Ain't it lovely?"
197
"I won't have you yell
at me ... like that!"
198
"You're gonna do ... just
as I tell you ... after
this ... Trina McTeague!"
199
"Yes! ... I been drinkin'
whiskey!"
200
"I'm beat out ... an'
I don't wanta be
bothered!"
201
"I wonder where he
got the money ... to
buy the whiskey?"
202
As time went on, Mac's
idleness became habitual.
His dislike for Trina increased
with every day of her
persistent stinginess.
203
"I'll get some money
and come back."
204
"You with all that
money .... an' me
with nothin'. Come'n!"
205
"Don't you love me
any more, Mac?"
206
"Sure I do!"
207
As Trina's greed grew, Mac's
ambition waned .... and
died. They sank lower and
lower that Trina might still
save from her meager
earnings.
208
"That's three days old.
It's hardly fit for dogs."
209
"Where's my change?"
210
"Two bits ... out o'
a dollar?"
211
"Do you think I'd ...
cheat you?"
212
Mac's meal was eaten
and finished in silence.
For the first time in his
life he had thoughts.
213
"So long!"
214
"Kiss me goodbye, Mac?"
215
"Why don't you bring
some of your fish
home sometimes?"
216
"It might save you
a nickel."
217
"I think I'll take
them birds o' mine
along."
218
"Sell 'em?"
219
"You ought to get
at least five dollars
for them."
220
"Maybe ... six dollars!"
221
"Well ... so long!"
222
"- how I've slaved, and
starved for you."
223
Mac never returned
after that day .... so
Trina took employment
as a scrub-women.
224
And with all her gold,
she was alone ....
a solitary, abandoned
woman.
225
"Say, Trina ... lemme
in, will ya?"
226
"I ain't had nothin' t'
eat since yesterday
mornin'."
227
"I'll see you starve before
you get another penny ...
of my money!"
228
"I wouldn't let a dog
go hungry!"
229
"Not ... if he'd bitten
you?"
230
"If I had hold
o' you, I'd --"
231
"I want that five
thousand!"
232
"I bet ... it'll rain
tomorrow."
233
McTeague had been missing
from San Francisco for
weeks, when --
234
The Fugitive.
235
"-- I know 'um well!
I can identify 'um!"
236
"-- an' that five thousand
he got away with ....
belongs to me!"
237
"There ain't a man o'
you big enough t'
stop me from goin'!"
238
"Lord love you, come
'long then. He's been
reported headin' for
Death Valley."
239
That night desolation lay still
around Mac. Every nerve
cried aloud for rest, yet every
instinct seemed goading him
to hurry on.
240
"Damn you! Come on,
will ya .... an' have
it out!"
241
"If it gets much hotter ...
I don't know!"
242
"God! .... what a country!"
243
And for days, on Mac
went .... chasing the
receding horizon that
always fled before him.
244
The last water hole.
245
"It's impossible to cross
Death Valley! There
ain't enough water for
one man an' his
mount .... let alone
eight!"
246
"We've got to circle
'round the Valley."
247
"Like hell I will! I ain't
sworn in."
248
"I'll do ... as I please!"
249
"Go on then ... you damn
fool! But I ain't got
nothin' t' do with it!"
250
"If you catch him, put
these bracelets on him
an' bring him in!"
251
McTeague was headed for
the very heart of Death
Valley .... that horrible
wilderness of which even
beasts were afraid.
252
"It's goin' to be worse
than ever today."
253
"By damn ... if he ain't
got no water with
'um, I'll be in a bad
way."
254
But hatred and the
greed for gold kept
Marcus up .... and closer
and closer he came.
255
"What did ya do with
that five thousand?"
256
"Got any water?"
257
"Is all the water we
got ... on the saddle?"
258
"He ate some loco-weed.
We'd better finish him ...
t'ain't right to let 'um
suffer."
259
"There's no water ...
within a hundred
miles o' here!"
260
"We...are...dead...men!"
261
"Even if we're done
for, I'll take some o'
my truck along."
262
"I ain't so sure 'bout who
that money belongs to!"
263
"-- an' don't try and
load that gun either!"
264
"Don't you lay your
fingers on that
sack!"
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