The Joyless Street
Original title: Die freudlose Gasse
“Open any door in Melchior Alley, and you'll come face to face with naked misery.”
1925 · 2 h 5 min
Directed by 
G.W. Pabst
G.W. PabstCast
Asta Nielsen 
Greta Garbo 
Werner Krauss
Credits
Written by: Hugo Bettauer
Plot
Hunger and corruption in postwar Vienna, where a respectable family is ruined by inflation and its daughters drawn toward vice.
Sinekatalog’s take
G.W. Pabst's silent drama shows postwar Vienna's hunger and corruption, as a respectable family is ruined and daughters drawn toward vice. Asta Nielsen and a young Greta Garbo star in a bleak, realistic classic.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.0 / 10 (1,920 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- Import/Export 2007 · Ulrich Seidl · IMDb 7.0 · Viewers also liked
- Secrets of a Soul 1926 · G.W. Pabst · IMDb 6.8 · Same director
- Diary of a Lost Girl 1929 · G.W. Pabst · IMDb 7.8 · Same director
- I.N.R.I. 1923 · Robert Wiene · IMDb 6.2 · Shared cast & crew
- The Last Laugh 1924 · F.W. Murnau · IMDb 8.0 · Same movement
- Strike 1925 · Sergei Eisenstein · IMDb 7.6 · Similar genres