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The Joyless Street (1925) is notable in the history of silent era film for a number of reasons. It is well-known as Greta Garbo’s final film in a brief European film career. Soon after this film was completed, Garbo was snapped up to star in films for MGM in Hollywood. It is a film that also distinguishes the early career of director G.W. Pabst, who would later direct an American actress who fled Hollywood to make films in Europe, Louise Brooks. — Carl Bennett |
Triple Feature Drama Classics, Volume 7 (1921-1925), Navarre Corporation, 1630, UPC 7-41027-16309-4. Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 4 / additional content: 6 / overall: 4. |
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 The video transfer utilizes a very-good but dark British 16mm reduction print that dates to the 1950s or 1960s. This color-toned print of The Joyless Street has previously appeared on home video in a cheap VHS edition from Madacy Entertainment. The print features a number of English language insert shots that possibly date to the 1920s. Some intertitles in the print are so dark that they are nearly unreadable. However, it must be noted that this is a heavily-edited print of The Joyless Street, although whether it was edited for its English language release or for the rerelease of the reduction print at hand is unknown. Several scenes and intertitles are missing, notably much of the story featuring the character portrayed by acting legend Asta Nielsen, which confuses the storyline.
While this is the least of the three prints featured on this disc, it remains at least watchable despite its truncated and dark self. The edition of The Joyless Street from Kino International on VHS and laserdisc, compiled from a number 35mm and 16mm prints, remains the best available on American home video. However, some of the 16mm footage in the print at hand is not as contrasty as some of the 16mm footage in the Kino edition. This is The Joyless Street’s first appearance on DVD home video. The film is accompanied by a compilation of prerecorded Mozart orchestral recordings. No effort has been made to synchronize the recordings which randomly play through the film. This edition of The Joyless Street is passable until some company releases a quality DVD edition of the film.
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The Joyless Street (1925), black & white, ? minutes, not rated. Synergy Entertainment, unknown catalog number, unknown UPC number. |
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Well, this ain’t the quality edition of The Joyless Street that we have been waiting for. The word around is that, despite the listed running time of 90 minutes, this edition runs just over an hour and may well be identical to the severely-edited edition noted above from a British 16mm reduction print.
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| Other silent era GRETA GARBO films available on home video.
Other silent era G.W. PABST films available on home video. Other ASTA NIELSEN films available on home video. Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video. |
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2007 Synergy Entertainment edition| Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > The Joyless Street || Top of Page |
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