Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on Frank Norris's novel McTeague. The film depicts three protagonists who succumb to their darker nature over a mutual desire for a lottery prize of $5,000 in gold (screenshot pictured). Von Stroheim shot more than 85 hours of footage, using sophisticated techniques such as deep-focus cinematography and montage editing, and obsessed over accuracy during production. Greed was one of the few films of its time to be shot entirely on location. Two months were spent shooting in Death Valley for the final sequence and many of the cast and crew became ill. Originally almost eight hours long, Greed was edited against von Stroheim's wishes to about two-and-a-half hours by Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer studio heads Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer. The cut footage is lost, and still sought after by film archivists and historians. Numerous false claims of the original version's discovery have been made over the years. In 1999, a reconstructed four-hour version was released using surviving stills from the lost footage.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed_(film)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of widows immolating themselves, was prohibited in part of British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)
1893:
First Matabele War: A patrol of British South Africa Company soldiers was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangani_Patrol
1909:
The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Montreal_Canadiens
1954:
The global hamburger fast food chain Burger King, known for its signature item the Whopper (pictured), was founded in Miami, Florida, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King
1971:
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, exploded a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 15 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk%27s_Bar_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
intersperse: 1. To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things of other; specifically: 2. To scatter or insert (something) into or among (other things), as Nature interspersed dandelions among the petunias, or 3. To diversify (something) by placing or inserting other things among (it), as Nature interspersed the petunias with dandelions. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intersperse
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not. --Samuel Butler https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler