Greed

Tonight we finally finished watching a movie we've had on our Tivo since July. At the time, we thought it would be a great idea to record the 1924 silent film classic "Greed" directed by Erich Von Stroheim. It was set in San Francisco (we live here), co-starred Zasu Pitts (Zasu!) and Gibson Gowland (!) and it was the FOUR HOUR RESTORED VERSION making it a lesson in film history. That obsessive nutso (he wears a monacle!) Erich Von Stroheim originally filmed a NINE HOUR VERSION and it was clipped to around two hours, with the additional footage (filmed in SF and Death Valley) "tragically" destroyed.

The restored version that we watched (over a period of six months) was reconstructed using a combination of silent film and still photo (read hypnotic slideshow) segments that caused us to become very, very sleepy upon viewing -- only able to watch short stretches at a time along with coming up with lots of excuses for not being in the right "mood" on most nights to continue the endless horrific saga of Trina and McTeague. For why would one want to watch "Greed" when there was a third season repeat of the "Gilmore Girls" on TV? Or um, "Dogs with Jobs" for that matter. So, that's why it took us over six months to watch.

There were a few times that we almost packed it in, but then I became determined and obsessed to finish watching it. I'm like that about movies, books, magazines, newspapers, food and the need to listen to every CD released on the planet. Uh oh. At the risk of being attacked by film students, I'll just come out and say that it probably didn't need to be nine hours long. The four hours alone makes you feel like you are being tortured. We tried to hang in there by making comments like "Good thing they didn't take THAT scene out!" Plus, it ends badly. Very badly. Death Valley. I won't give it away.

However, I discovered they filmed the SF dentist office scenes on the corner of Hayes & Laguna and that the original building is still there! I'll have to look for it (unless that proves I'm obsessed and tortured.) I also discovered that there a bunch of funny"Masterpiece" vs "Trash" arguments about this movie on Amazon.com.

I glad it's off the Tivo, now there is more room for feel-good fluff. We could all use a bit more of that sort of thing these days.

P.S. This is a good time to thank Irish Goddess for my X-mas gift, the funny book "Television Without Pity-752 Things We Love To Hate About Television." It's the perfect antidote -- it even has an entry on "Urkel." Thanks Irish Goddess!