The Joyless Street (G.W. Pabst, 1925)
Ridiculous happy ending aside, this is a servicable expressionist melodrama– fiery and hysterical, with nice tracking shots. Pabst’s camera loves Asta Nielsen and especially Garbo (who has many opportunities for that signature roll of the head), but his characters never really feel like more than thematic constructs; I found myself missing the psychological complexity of more sophisticated melodramas like A Woman of Paris or The Marriage Circle. B-
