American Epic Films From the Twenties

Doug Fairbanks as The Thief of Bagdad and von Stroheim’s Greed

Nov 17, 2008

One film lives up to its reputation as a spectacular Arabian Nights fantasy. The other is one of the most ambitious, and butchered, films ever made.

By the 1920s, silent movies had progressed to the point that many of them were actually superior in grandeur, acting, and special effects to most of the early talkies. Pioneer directors such as Raoul Walsh, Cecil B. DeMille, Fred Niblo, Rex Ingram, and Erich von Stroheim, to name a few, created movies that have earned recognition as film epics.

Among these epics are two complete opposites -- The Thief of Bagdad and Greed. The first is completely make-believe, taking the viewer to a time and setting that has never existed. The second is a gritty, naturalistic film, that explores how humans can have their lives shattered by their worst instincts.

Combine majestic throne rooms, crowded bazaars, a genie, caverns of fire, smoke-belching dragons, giant underwater spiders, flying horses, armies rising from dust, and a magic flying carpet together. To this mixture, add Douglas Fairbanks, a movie star of limited acting ability, but with an abundance of charisma and the athletic skills of an acrobat. The result is a two and a half hour film spectacular known as the The Thief of Bagdad.

Producer and star, Fairbanks, and director Raoul Walsh, spared no expense in making one of the most lavish fantasies ever brought to the screen. The famed art director and production designer, William Cameron Menzies (1933’s Alice in Wonderland, Gone with the Wind), created the massive fairy tale-like sets. Coy Watson was responsible for the groundbreaking special effects and stunts, the most remembered of which is when Fairbanks and the Princess (Julanne Johnson) fly on a carpet fifty feet above the set’s floor.

An equally successful version was released in the United Kingdom in 1940. In 1996, the original film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Clips from the movie can be seen here.

Greed was the ambitious brainchild of the Austrian born Stroheim. It is a bleak and depressing tale of three basically decent people whose lives are destroyed by greed after one of them wins the equivalent of a $100,000 lottery. The three are a poor dentist named McTeague (Gibson Gowland), his wife, Trina (Zasu Pitts), and their mutual friend, Marcus (Jean Hersholt).

The strength of the movie lies in its story telling; the naturalistic scenes shot on location in the California gold fields, San Francisco, and Death Valley; and excellent, realistic performances by the three stars. Particularly good is Pitts, who, during most of her career played ditzy women in comedies, but proves here that she was quite capable of handling dramatic roles.

When von Stroheim set out in 1923 to create a film based on author Frank Norris’s novel, McTeague, he planned on shooting an almost page by page re-creation of the book. A year later, true to his dream, his completed work did contain most of the detail and numerous subplots of the nearly 400 page work. Unfortunately, it was also a 45 reel movie that was over nine hours in length.

When MGM, and critics who saw the full version, balked at its length, Stroheim and his friend and co-director, Rex Ingram, cut it first to five hours and then to four. Still not satisfied, MGM used another editor to reduce it to two hours. The final result was a movie that was disjointed and confusing to audiences. Fortunately for today’s viewers, producer Rick Schmidlin has “restored” two hours of the movie by using publicity still photos and the director’s shooting script. The result enhances continuity, and also makes clearer subplots involving a loving elderly couple and a seedy junk dealer and his mentally unbalanced wife.

Technically, Greed is not a movie epic. It does not have a cast of thousands, it is not centered around an historical or mythical event, nor does it have spectacular special effects. However, by the sheer scope of its original undertaking, due in large part, to the hubris of its director, it is worthy of inclusion. A box office failure at the time of its release, it is today considered a masterpiece despite its butchering. Clips from the movie can be seen here.

The copyright of the article American Epic Films From the Twenties in Classic Films is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish American Epic Films From the Twenties in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.