Die Straße
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Die Straße | |
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| Directed by | Karl Grune |
| Produced by | Karl Grune |
| Written by | Karl Grune |
| Starring | Eugen Klöpfer Aud Egede-Nissen Max Schreck |
| Cinematography | Karl Hasselmann |
| Release date(s) |  1923 |
| Running time | 74 min. |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | Silent film German intertitles |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Die Straße (1923), also known as The Street, is a German film, directed by Karl Grune.
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[edit] Cast
- Eugen Klöpfer ... Man
- Lucie Höflich ... Woman
- Anton Edthofer ... Pimp
- Aud Egede-Nissen ... Harlot
- Max Schreck ... Blind man
- Leonhard Haskel ... Gentleman
[edit] Synopsis
This highly influential movie was the first of the German "street" films. Prints of the film do exist, despite claims to the contrary. There are few intertitles throughout the film, adding to the predominantly visual story-telling approach.
It tells the story of one night in which a middle-aged man is lured away from his happy home into the thrills and dangers of the city streets. The city is an expressionistic nightmare, a dangerous and chaotic place. The unfortunate man encounters thieves, prostitutes, and other predators. But the real threat to security and order is the street itself. In one extraordinary scene the bumbling man passes an optometrist's shop on a crooked, deserted street. The moment his back is turned, an enormous neon sign of a pair of eyeglasses, blinks on. The street itself is alive and watching.
[edit] Plot
The movie follows two distinct plot lines until the two eventually merge: the first is that of the bored middle-aged man seeking a departure from monotony in his life; the second is that of the blind man and the little girl who are interdependent. None of the characters have been given names and are therefore referred to only by description.
The film opens with a middle-aged man lying on his couch with a look of discontent as his wife finishes cooking their dinner on a rather uneventful night. As she rushes back and forth setting the table, he sluggishly rises and walks across the room to the window and gazes out onto the busy streets. His wife eventually walks over and gazes too, but quickly sits at the table and begins to eat dinner. The man takes one look at the food and then casually leaves the apartment and begins to wander the streets in search of something exciting.
The scene switches to a man sitting in a chair holding a little girl about four or five years old. Another, younger-looking man enters the room through a door on the left of the screen towards another door on the right of the screen. The little girl jumps from the man's arms to the younger man, and the older man reaches out for her; it is here that we see that the older man is blind. The little girl runs to the younger man and grasps his leg, saying, "Daddy!" He looks at her briefly, then makes a hasty exit. The little girl begins to cry and the blind man sits her up on his lap and comforts her, stroking her hair and talking to her. Then the little girl helps the blind man put on his coat and hat to go out.
The middle-aged man eventually encounters a pimp and a harlot. The middle-aged man, the harlot, and the pimp run all around town getting into all sorts of scenarios: scuffling over a seat on a park bench, falsely claiming to have been robbed, going to a dance, and gambling in a card game. They all end up at a party and are seen eating at a table all together. The middle-aged man looks at his wedding ring, and inside of it he sees an image of his wife walking backwards away from him. He begins to miss her and his regular life.
Around the same time, the blind man and the little girl have left the house and are standing outside a shop along the busy street. The blind man is holding the little girl's hand, but she is distracted by a dog and breaks his grip to chase the dog. The blind man is startled and calls out for her in a slight panic. The little girl is stranded on an island in the chaotic, bustling street, surrounded by horses, bicycles, pedestrians, and cars. A police officer stops traffic and walks the little girl across the street into the police office. Meanwhile, the blind man is sliding along a wall, looking desperately for the little girl. He mistakenly steps too far into the street and falls down onto the sidewalk after being nearly run over by a car. He pants heavily, upset and disoriented. A passing pedestrian stops and helps the blind man up and offers to help him get home. The police take the little girl home and put her to bed. Later, the blind man arrives home and sighs in relief at finding the little girl safe at home.
The harlot takes one of the men home and when another man sees him in the house, the other man is murdered. Unbeknownst to both parties, both the middle-aged man's group and the blind man's group are in the same house. The little girl wakes up and hears her father's voice and runs out to him. He again leaves in a haste, but this time the little girl follows him. The blind man wakes up hearing the little girl's cries and stumbles upon the murdered man. He is visibly frightened and breathes heavily. A policeman finds the little girl and brings her home again and the murder scene is discovered. The blind man comforts the little girl as the police take in suspects and solve the case.
