One of the most famous lost films in cinema history, it is also considered one of the greatest films ever. It was directed by Erich von Stroheim

John McTeague was a simple slow man, who became a dentist after working at the Big Dipper Gold Mine. He is now being hunted in Death Valley by his ex-best friend Marcus and the law. His lot was cast the day he met his future wife, Trina, in his office. She was with Marcus and bought a lottery ticket. When Mac and Trina married, she won the Lottery for $5,000 and became obsessed with money,. Marcus is steamed as he stepped aside romantically and could have been her husband. But now she's rich, so he has the law shut down Mac as he's a practicing dentist without a license. Trina, fearful they'll take her gold away, sells everything and takes all Mac earns when he's working. She adds to her stash of gold while they both live as paupers. When Mac has no job and no money, he leaves and Trina moves. Driven to desperation at being poor and hungry, he finds Trina and demands the gold.

McTeague eröffnet eine Zahnarztpraxis in San Francisco, obwohl ihm die Qualifikation dafür fehlt. Als ihn sein Freund Marcus und dessen Verlobte Trina besuchen, verliebt er sich sofort in das Mädchen, das nun seine Verlobte wird und kurz vor der Hochzeit in der Lotterie gewinnt. Aus Rache zeigt Marcus McTeague an, den jetzt nur der Lotteriegewinn Trinas vor dem Ruin retten könnte. Sie weigert sich jedoch, ihm das Geld zu geben, weshalb er sie ermordet. Mit dem Geld flüchtet er in die Wüste, verfolgt von Marcus. McTeague kann Marcus zwar erschießen, stirbt aber selbst an Wassermangel.

DVD-R has English intertitles with hard-encoded German subtitles. Approx. 227 min.  See film sample for audio and video quality!