Asphalt (1929)

Originally posted to Facebook on 1/8/2019

Asphalt was our second film from 1929, and our second starring Gustav Fröhlich, after 1927's Metropolis. It is the first film we've seen directed by Joe May, and also the first time we've seen Betty Amann, the female lead.

Fröhlich plays a policeman, who helps to apprehend Amann attempting to rob a jewelry store. He is sympathetic, and ends up having to cover his tracks as he gets involved in a relationship with her. This is complicated by the fact that his father, played by Albert Steinrück (whom we saw as the chief Rabbi in 1920's The Golem), is also a policeman. The movie is efficiently paced, with relatively few title cards, and a running time of just about 90 minutes. The only sequence that seemed a bit extraneous was a five minute scene set in France, depicting a surprisingly detailed bank heist -- which seemed to have no other purpose than to establish that Amann's significant other was a criminal -- a fact which surely could have been communicated more quickly and without breaking up the flow of the main plot.

A lot has been written about the connection between noir and expressionism, and although that transition mostly occurred in Hollywood, I think this could be classified as an early proto-noir -- in the sense that the protagonist finds himself being pulled deeper into trouble, with Amann filling the femme fatale role (and incidentally looking quite similar to Louise Brooks.) It's stylishly shot, but more grounded in reality and not as flamboyantly expressionistic as the films we've seen by Lang or Murnau.

Speaking of Louise Brooks, next week we'll move on to one of her most famous roles in Pandora's Box, our third film from 1929. This will be the second time we've seen her, after 1928's Beggars of Life a few weeks ago. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT