The Joyless Street (Film Arts Guild, 1927). Very Good on Linen. Trimmed First Release One Sheet (25.5" X 39.5").. ...

Description

The Joyless Street (Film Arts Guild, 1927). Very Good on Linen. Trimmed First Release One Sheet (25.5" X 39.5").
Originally titled Die Friedlose Grasse, this exquisite film by director G. W. Pabst is set in poverty-stricken Vienna shortly after World War I. Released in Britain under the title Joyless Street, the film debuted in the U.S. as Streets of Sorrow and stars Greta Garbo in her last European film before emigrating to America to appear in Torrent. Due to censorship cuts, the format presented to American audiences almost entirely omits Asta Nielsen's portions of the film. The story was reworked to focus almost entirely on Greta Garbo's character, a dutiful daughter who attempts to keep her family from starvation in post-war Vienna after her father (Jaro Furth) makes several ill-advised decisions that bring them to financial ruin. Filmed in an expressionistic and highly symbolic style, the picture is considered one of the first films of the New Objectivity movement. Though many films had touched on similar familial circumstances, Pabst was successful in his ability to tear away any American glamour, destroyed romanticism, and exposed the stark realities of hunger and passion under distorted conditions. This extremely scarce stone litho features a large billing for Garbo, an unusual find for the foreign actress before ever appearing in a U.S. production, printed shortly after Mayer moved her to America. Perhaps the only existing U.S. one sheet in this style to have survived, the poster has been professionally restored and backed on linen. Skillful touchup has been applied to fold wear, significant tears, creases, a few small chips, fold separations, and slightly trimmed borders. Before linen backing, the poster contained a few strips of tape on the verso, and light airbrushing was applied to the image of Garbo to correct a tear within her illustration.


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