[2] Early in his career, Daniels worked regularly with director Erich von Stroheim,[3] providing cinematography for such films as The Devil's Pass Key (1920) and Greed (1924).

[6] Daniels on Merry-Go-Round (1923): “In the big banquet scene, Stroheim had all the extras playing Austrian officers really drunk; he served real champagne by the bucketful and whiskey as well.

[10] Photographically, his greatest challenge shooting Greed was integrating transitions from natural outdoor lighting with illuminated interiors that von Stroheim demanded in the famous marriage sequence shot in San Francisco: “[B]alancing the exposure was hell” Daniels recalled.

He registered dismay with the director’s obsession for “realism” requiring that an underground mining sequence be shot in an actual shaft at a depth 3000 feet (915 meters), rather than near the surface, either of which would have produced the same visual effect.

He recalled that “she didn’t speak a word of English and was terrifically shy.”[12] After completing this essential, but painstaking “ordeal,” Daniels insisted that Garbo would henceforth work exclusively on closed sets (director and crew only present), in an effort to ease the young actresses “constant stage fright” and allowing her to focus on performing.