The Joyless Street (1925, clip from restored version)

[@susanvaughan-schiele210]

I so wish this fantastic old silent movie had subtitles.

[@LilBafta]

Marlene Dietrich admitted to being in this "kitsch" (her words) film, and laughed that in the uncensored version she murders the butcher herself which she would, back then, only have known the scene existed if she was actually in it.

[@AhmedYar-zy5dq]

What the hell you're talking about?!!!! Marlene Dietrich always denied being in any silent films or any films before The Blue Angel (although today we can view handful of her silent films.) Yet alone to admit she was in this film?! Anyway, my point is SHE IS NOT IN THIS FILM! Diana McLellan in her book is trying as hard as she can to convince herself otherwise.

[@petersolomon5227]

This is any important, if largely forgotten film. That said, it’s hard for me to see how “The Joyless Street” has been restored. Restored motion film generally refers to a range of digital effects applied to scanned film, which include grain reduction, stabilisation, scratch, dirt and chemical stain removal, and minimisation of flicker. All these original characteristics are present in the film seen above.

[@SleepyLestatSF]

its because the film was butchered down to a very short version and this is the closest to the original length and also with tinting. they went through a lot of effort to restore scenes in the correct order. Restoration is a tricky word in film especially in cases like these as it can be confusing!

[@classicvideogoodies]

Any version that restores something (anything) that was missing in the previous version can be called a restored version. As I said in my video description, this is the 1997 restored version. Back then, there was no digital cleanup available. If you think only digital restorations can be called restoration, then you ignore many past restorations done in the 70s and 80s, or even earlier.

[@dasglasperlenspiel10]

Excellent! What is the piece for violin and piano that is used for the music? It is perfectly chosen!

[@classicvideogoodies]

The score was specially composed for this edition by the late great Aljoscha Zimmermann, who composed for many German silents such as "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler" and "The Golem".

[@dasglasperlenspiel10]

@@classicvideogoodies , Thank you for the reply. I am unfamiliar with this composer, although I have studied a fair amount of early twentieth century German music. The film, and the score, are extremely important documents. Thank you for making them public. I will have to learn more about ClasscVideoGoodies!

[@Ifrit007]

Absolutely excellent presentation, keep up the great work! I do have a question however, are you familiar with the FilmArchiv Austria Version of this film?

[@classicvideogoodies]

The FilmArchiv Austria version came from the same restoration shown in my video. The FA DVD is available here: www.filmarchiv.at/en/bestellen/shop/die-freudlose-gasse-edition-film-text-10armin-loacker-hg/ . The DVD used in my video has a different score and can be bought here: www.edition-filmmuseum.com/product_info.php/language/en/info/p81_Die-freudlose-Gasse.html .

[@Ifrit007]

@@classicvideogoodies I see, I see, I was wondering because I heard that apparently FAA updated/digitized/digitally cleaned it up? Or was I misinformed? And thank you for letting me know and for sending the links.

[@classicvideogoodies]

@@Ifrit007 I haven't seen the FilmArchiv Austria DVD, but the two DVDs were released within one year and based on the same restoration and had the same running time, so I doubt there is much difference between the two. All DVDs involve digital work because DVD is a digital medium, so "digital cleanup" means little if we don't know what exactly was done. On the other DVD (the one I bought), there is a featurette showing print damages being cleaned up with chemicals. That is a "physical" cleanup, however.

[@Ifrit007]

@@classicvideogoodies I see, my apologies. I keep seeing different things regarding each release. For example I remember seeing a website that said the FAA Version if 142 Minutes while Filmmuseum is 151 minutes. That and someone that had the FAA DVD, I remember seeing the same screenshot as the thumbnail and compared them, and they did look quite a bit different. So yeah, I wasn’t completely sure, thank you.

[@classicvideogoodies]

@@Ifrit007 You're right; the two DVDs do have different running times; my turn to apologize. That could be due to different frame rates being used, as is often the case with film transfers of silent films. I would have to obtain the FAA DVD to do a proper comparison.