The Road (1923)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The street |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1923 |
| length | 74 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Grune |
| script | Karl Grune Julius Urgiß based on a story draft by Carl Mayer |
| production | Karl Grune Max Schach for Stern-Film (Berlin) |
| camera | Karl Hasselmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Die Strasse is a German silent film by Karl Grune from 1923. He founded the genre of so-called street films .
action
A petty bourgeoisie has had enough of the bourgeois, oppressive narrowness of his life. He wants to escape the everyday monotony, the dull everyday life of marriage, and one night he storms out of his apartment into the alluring life of the big city. He wants to experience something exciting there. Hardly on the street, he meets a woman, obviously a prostitute. He accompanies her to a dance hall. Several of their accomplices - no doubt criminals - are currently cheating on another man while gambling. However, after initial losses, this man can get his money back. Little does he know that this will mean the death sentence for him ...
Because now the crooks lure this man into an apartment, rob him and then murder him. At this point the petty bourgeois is in an adjoining room; he followed the prostitute to her room, hoping to have fun with her. Everyone involved in the crime, the prostitute and her husband who was involved in the murder as well as his buddy, flee in a panic after the murder. When the police arrive, they arrest the petty bourgeois who does not know what is happening to him. He is initially mistaken for the perpetrator and locked up until he is saved as a result of a child's testimony. At the last moment the petty bourgeoisie has been saved from suicide. After his release, he returns ruefully to his wife, who has been waiting for him in the home and who wordlessly serves him hot soup from the oven.
Production notes
The street was five files long and passed film censorship on October 10, 1923. The film, shot in May 1923, had its world premiere on November 29, 1923 in Berlin .
The focus of the film are the street structures shaped by Expressionism . They come from Karl Görge- Prochaska and Ludwig Meidner .
Reviews
The Film-Kurier reads: “In Karl Green's film The Street , the city is the hero. She is portrayed as a vampire who tears up anyone who gets into his clutches. The upright petty bourgeois lost in the big city thicket experiences the same fears, disappointments and tragedies as his film brother in the land of dreams and legends. The gorgeous neon-lit streets are just a lure for adventure seekers. Real life in the metropolis is dark and tragic. The street is a death dance of the epoch, the noise of which tries to stifle the cry of despair. "
Siegfried Kracauer wrote: “The film is a masterpiece by the director Karl Grune and his helpers, including Ludwig Meidner. The theatrical achievements are also perfect, the gaze and gestures say completely what is incumbent on them to express and completely defend the superfluous word. The future belongs to films of this type. "
London's Cinema concluded: “'The Street' is one of the greatest films ever made, one of the most ambitious and successful attempts to create true realism. We can hardly find enough words of praise for this film. "
Oskar Kalbus ' Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst wrote: “Karl Grune's almost untitled film“ Die Straße ”(1923) depicts the ghost of a night, the fate of someone who was torn from the calm path of rich bourgeoisie for a few hours (Eugen Klöpfer) who lived in the Span of a single night is dragged through the ups and downs of life and finally returns to its safe starting point. This chamber feature film also brings something new: the hero of the film is not Klöpfer, but the street. "
Reclam's film guide writes: “The film is for the most part well photographed and edited. The buildings are also impressive [...]; entire streets were created quite realistically and convincingly in the studio. The book, direction and style of representation, on the other hand, are mostly sentimental and pathetic. "
Kay Weniger 's 'In life more is taken from you than is given' called Die Straße a “realistic, at times expressionistic film [...], with which Grune should have a genre-forming effect”.
literature
- Fred Gehler The street. One night's film . In Günther Dahlke, Günther Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginnings to 1933. A film guide. Henschel Verlag, 2nd edition, Berlin 1993, pp. 93 ff. ISBN 3-89487-009-5
Web links
- The road in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The street at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Film-Kurier No. 263, v. November 30, 1923; quoted n. Jerzy Toeplitz : History of Films, Volume 1, 1895–1928, p. 219, Ostberlin 1972
- ^ Frankfurter Zeitung (Stadt-Blatt), February 3, 1924
- ^ Cinema, London, cit. according to Lichtbild-Bühne, No. 23, March 1, 1924
- ↑ On the development of German film art. Part 2: The sound film. Berlin 1935. p. 74
- ^ Reclam's film guide. By Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 121. Stuttgart 1973.
- ↑ Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. ACABUS Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 220.