Joyless Street

Joyless Street
Video cover for short version
Die freudlose Gasse
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Written by Hugo Bettauer (novel)
Willy Haas
Starring Greta Garbo
Asta Nielsen
Werner Krauss
Agnes Esterhazy
Henry Stuart
Robert Garrison
Einar Hanson
Cinematography Guido Seeber
Curt Oertel
Robert Lach
Edited by Marc Sorkin
Production
company
Sofar-Film
Distributed by Sofar-Film-Produktion GmbH
Release date
  • 18 May 1925 (1925-05-18)
[1])
Running time
 151 minutes
Country Germany
Language Silent film
German intertitles

Joyless Street (German: Die freudlose Gasse, 1925, exhibited in the U.S. as The Street of Sorrow, in Britain as The Joyless Street[2]), a film based on the novel by Hugo Bettauer and directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in Germany, is one of the first films of the "New Objectivity“ movement. Greta Garbo stars in her second major role. The film is often described as a morality story in which the 'fallen woman' suffers for her sins, while the more virtuous is rewarded.[3]

The film's sets were designed by the art directors Otto Erdmann and Hans Sohnle.

Plot

In 1921 in a street called Melchiorgasse in the poor part of Vienna, Austria, there are only two wealthy people: the butcher Josef Geiringer and Mrs. Greifer, who runs a fashion boutique and a nightclub, patronized by wealthy Viennese. Annexed to the nightclub is Merkl Hotel, a brothel to which the women of the nightclub bring their clients. The film follows the lives of two women from the same poor neighborhood, as they try to better themselves during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation. They are Marie, who becomes a prostitute, and Grete, who at the last moment, is saved from that fate.

Marie, in love with a young banker assistant, Egon Stirner, believes him to be unfaithful, and falsely accuses him of murder, all the while knowing the true identity of the murderer, from having witnessed it herself.

At the finale Else, a wife and mother, who has previously provided sexual favors to the butcher for meat, kills the butcher because he refuses her any more meat. The poor of the neighborhood, hearing the sounds of the nightclub, revolt against the clients by throwing stones. The nightclub burns down killing Else and her husband in the attic, but not before allowing them to ease their infant safely down from the window to the waiting poor. Only Grete seems to have any hope of leaving Melchiorgasse and this because of her relationship with an American Red Cross officer.

Cast

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reports per July 2010 that 83% of six sampled critics gave the film positive reviews and that it got a rating average of 8 out of 10.[4]

Versions of the film

Shortly after its release, different versions of the film circulated because of censorship cuts. The Filmmuseum in Munich restored the film in 1999 to its original length.[5] A digital version of this new film, 151 minutes in length, was then produced by Austrian Filmarchiv, from which it is available. A region 2 DVD version with documentary extras is available.

Greta Garbo by Alexander Binder during the filming of Die freudlose Gasse.

References

  1. ↑ David Robinson; Paul Duncan (2007). Greta Garbo. Taschen. p. 180. ISBN 978-3-8228-2209-8. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
  2. ↑ Alexander Walker; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (October 1980). Garbo: a portrait. Macmillan. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-02-622950-0. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  3. ↑ Essay by Michael Kohler on The Joyless Street at Senses of Cinema: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/the_joyless_street/
  4. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joyless_street/
  5. ↑ "Progressive Silent Film List: Joyless Street". Silent Era. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
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