In the post-WW1 in Vienna, a group of millionaires decide to manipulate the stock market with rumors to make it fall in the first moment and raise when people discover the truth. The ambitious Egon Stirner (Henry Stuart) loves Regina Rosenow (Agnes Esterhazy), who is the daughter of a wealthy man and she does not believe in his feelings. Egon has a love affair with Lia Leid, who is the wife of the wealthy Dr. Leid, and he asks if she may borrow some money to him to invest in the stock market. Meanwhile the secretary Marie (Asta Nielsen) has an unrequited love for Egon and decides to ask for a loan to Mrs. Greifer, who is the owner of a brothel in the poor Melchior Street, to give to Egon. The wealthy Don Alfonso Canez offers the amount to Marie and she goes to a room with him. When Lia is mysteriously murdered in a room in the same hotel, Marie falsely accuses Egon of killing her to Canez.
Meanwhile, the bureaucrat Hofrat Rumfort (Jaro Fürth) is not aware of the manipulation of the market and believes that is rich with the fall of the stocks and he spends a great amount. His daughter Greta (Greta Garbo) loses her job and they are forced to rent a room in their apartment to the Red Cross Lieutenant Davis (Einar Hanson) that pays a large amount to her. However she is forced use the money to pay the debts of her father. The only way to make money to feed the family is prostitution in Mrs. Greifer's brothel. What will be the fate of Greta?
"The Joyless Street" is a complex and melancholic story of a depressive period of history. The work of Georg Wilhelm Pabst is amazing since he is able to present a long feature (the edited version of 125 minutes running time) with many sub-plots and characters. This movie is also one of her first work of the gorgeous Greta Garbo that has a top-notch performance. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Rua das Lágrimas" ("Street of the Tears")
