ASPHALT (1929)

Cast

Plot

A well-dressed lady thief (Betty Amann) steals a precious stone from a jewellery shop. The aged jeweller prefers to let the young woman go, but the policeman who catches her explains he is obliged to pursue the case further. She tries to seduce the policeman (Gustav Frohlich), and he gradually succumbs to her charms, but her criminal background dooms their relationship when an argument leads to murder. One of the last great German Expressionist films of the silent era, Joe May's 'Asphalt' is a love story set in the traffic-strewn Berlin of the late 1920s. Betty Amann's salacious sensuality, May's grand direction, the spectacular sets by Erich Kettelhut, and the photography of Günther Rittau make this largely unknown film a major rediscovery.