I won't pretend to be anywhere as knowledgeable about the subject of "Joyless Street" as some of the other informed reviewers on this board. Interestingly, I find the most intellectual and thought provoking discussion of films on the IMDb to take place regarding pictures one has probably never heard of. The strange thing about this picture is that it was part of a twenty movie offering from Mill Creek Entertainment compiled under the heading of 'Cult Classics', most of which were exploitation flicks from the Thirties and Forties. Obviously, the film I viewed was a somewhat restored version heralding the arrival of Greta Garbo in her film debut, with some general comments on the setting for the story. Others have critiqued various iterations of the picture that have cropped up since the original in 1925; mine was a seriously edited sixty one minute version.
There's no denying Greta Garbo's charisma in her first screen performance; her body language and facial expressiveness might have given rise to a song entitled 'Greta Garbo Eyes' if someone had gotten around to it before the Bette Davis song. She also seemed to exude something of a Princess Di quality which intrigued me enough to draw the comparison. I doubt if that would have come through if this hadn't been a silent film.
The story itself presents a woeful dichotomy in the life of a ravaged Vienna following the first World War, with poverty and starvation along side the excess and overindulgence of privileged classes residing in the same city. Perhaps the result of a largely shortened, cut up version of the original picture, I never got the impression that Garbo's character (also named Greta) would turn to prostitution to provide for her family, even though one could surmise the cabaret environment would encourage that. As others have mentioned, the sanitized happy ending seemed somewhat off kilter, while the contrived musical accompaniment was just a bit too upbeat for the subject matter. Still, an effective picture and harrowing look at post war conditions nearly a century gone by.
There's no denying Greta Garbo's charisma in her first screen performance; her body language and facial expressiveness might have given rise to a song entitled 'Greta Garbo Eyes' if someone had gotten around to it before the Bette Davis song. She also seemed to exude something of a Princess Di quality which intrigued me enough to draw the comparison. I doubt if that would have come through if this hadn't been a silent film.
The story itself presents a woeful dichotomy in the life of a ravaged Vienna following the first World War, with poverty and starvation along side the excess and overindulgence of privileged classes residing in the same city. Perhaps the result of a largely shortened, cut up version of the original picture, I never got the impression that Garbo's character (also named Greta) would turn to prostitution to provide for her family, even though one could surmise the cabaret environment would encourage that. As others have mentioned, the sanitized happy ending seemed somewhat off kilter, while the contrived musical accompaniment was just a bit too upbeat for the subject matter. Still, an effective picture and harrowing look at post war conditions nearly a century gone by.