 the  "Directors Version"). It was then cut again, not once, but twice.  The first time by Rex Ingram (II) (qv), who cut the film down to  18 reels, and forbade Stroheim to let anyone cut it again. The final  cut was performed by MGM editing departments Joseph Farnham acting  on orders from Irving Thalberg (qv), who without having read the  book ("McTeague") or the script, cut the film down to 10 reels. This  final version was released with a runtime of 2