Film Review: The Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse, 1925)

Silent era represents the most fascinating, but also one of the saddest chapters of cinema history. It is due to around 90 percent of all silent films being lost forever. Even some important, popular and influential silent films have vanished and those that still exist are often available in incomplete and butchered form. One such example is The Joyless Street, 1925 German drama directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, which is considered one of the classics of Weimar period and which, also still incomplete, many decades later served as an object of one of the most difficult and spectacular reconstructions in history.

The film is based on the best-selling novel by prolific Austrian writer Hugo Bettauer. The plot is set in 1921 Vienna, city that used to be capital of mighty empire and reduced to small impoverished country after defeat in First World War. Years of high inflation and other economic woes have struck people hard, especially those living in street called Melchiorgasse. Main protagonists are two young women who live there. One is Grete Rumfort (played by Greta Garbo), daughter of Councilman Rumfort (played by Jaro Fürth), old civil servant whose pride makes him live above his means. The other is Marie Lechner (played by Asta Nielsen), daughter of a crippled war veteran. Both of them are forced to stand in line in front of butcher shop whose ruthless owner Geiringer (played by Werner Krauss) not only deliberately hoards the meat in order to increase price, but also offers it at discount to women in exchange for sexual favours. Another powerful person in the neighbourhood is Mrs. Greiffer (played by Valeska Gert), owner of clothing store which is actually a front for “private club” where her wealthy clients meet desperate women. Marie is in romantic relationship with Egon Stirner (played by Henry Stuart), young and handsome bank clerk whose boss Max Rosenow (played by Karl Etlinger) is just preparing to manipulate coal company stocks with the help of wealthy South American businessman Canez (played by Robert Garrison) who has just arrived to Vienna and tries to enjoy its nightlife. Egon is ambitious and wants to get rich at stock market and, in order to obtain funds, is quite willing to romance women from upper class, which include his boss’ daughter Regina (played by Agnes Esterhazy) and Lia Leid (played by Tamara Tolstoi), wife of Rosenow’s attorney. Life of those and other characters will be intertwined through series of events that involve murder, street riot and fire.

During its short life Weimar Germany was extraordinarily fertile ground for creative talents, and that included its cinema industry. Only few years after impressing the world with Expressionist films, German film makers launched new movement known as New Objectivity (“Neue Sachlichkeit”), which favoured more subdued and realist approach to various subjects. The Joyless Street represents the movement’s most important and groundbreaking film. Pabst has made his film completely in the sets, but his depiction of Vienna was immensely realistic. The acting in the film is much more subdued and less theatrical than in previous silent films, which shows that the directors even before the arrival of sound were becoming aware of the new medium’s strengths and weaknesses compared with the world of theatre. Screenwriter Willy Haas gave emphasis on social motives in Bettauer’s novel, which many other writers would have adapted it into simple crime mystery. The Joyless Street instead mixes uses many subplots and large number of characters to give as comprehensive depiction of Viennese society as possible – from those at the bottom to those at the top. This is especially evident in the way Pabst and Haas weave their stories about four different women, each representing different class – underclass is represented by Else (played by Hertha von Walther), woman driven crazy over her inability to support child and unemployed husband; working class is represented by Maria; middle class is represented by Grete and the upper class is represented by Regina.

All those characters are played by diverse but talented international cast and many performances are quite memorable. Werner Krauss, German actor who would later become controversial figure over his support of Nazism, is great in the role of despicable butcher. Another interesting performance is provided by cabaret artist Valeska Gert as manipulative woman whose interaction with Grete would give plenty of material for those who seek hidden lesbian overtones in classic cinema. But those two are easily overshadowed by two actresses who were great stars or were about to become such. Danish actress Asta Nielsen (also “Die Asta”, as she was known by her German fans) was already established as one of the first major European film stars and her performance in the complex, demanding role of the woman of the edge of madness is as impressive now as it was almost a century ago. But it is young Swedish actress Greta Garbo that is more recognisable for today’s audience. Here she is not star yet, but her performance is quite impressive, although at times she looks perhaps too beautiful for the film set in the bleak city. It was second role in feature film for Garbo, but it was enough to secure her career in Hollywood where he would soon become one of the greatest cinema icons of 20th Century.

The Joyless Street was reasonably popular film, greeted well among contemporary critics. Governments, however, have shown much less enthusiasm and the film became subject of censorship. Some were bothered riot scene when poor people attack Mrs. Greiffer’s club and force their rich patrons to leave it in a haste; it was interpreted as authors’ endorsement of Communist revolution and, as such, excised from many versions. Others were appalled with scenes that explicitly or implicitly show prostitution and decadent life of Viennese elite (including brief tableaux vivant in Greiffert’s club featuring three nude women). As a result, The Joyless Street ended in numerous, often different and contradictory versions and, despite its importance and influence on future film makers, it lost its original form. The earliest attempts of restoration resulted in rather short 1-hour version focusing on Greta Garbo, which represented roughly a third of running time. The more comprehensive restoration began in 1989 and included tracking various version in archives over various countreies. It was finalised in 2009, allowing the audience to watch roughly two and half hours and get much better idea what this silent film classic really looked like.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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