UFA helmer Joe May, once spoken of in tandem with F W Murnau or Fritz Lang, ended his career struggling for gigs on B-list Hollywood fodder. But this late silent, a superb psychological meller lovingly restored with a fine new score on KINO DVD, shows him in top form. It’s the old story of a naive cop corrupted by a shady lady. He bends the rules for a night of love. But when her rich lover returns, tragedy strikes, and his disgrace can only be erased through her redemption. Thrillingly designed & shot in a studio-recreated Berlin, May uses the camera with Murnau-like freedom & expressivity, only stumbling over the pacing of a few scenes he has trouble ending. Gustav Frohlich will always be stamped by his silly perf in Lang’s METROPOLIS, but in this more naturalistic mode, he’s touching & handsome. As the femme fatale, Betty Amann leaves an odd taste. She’s an obvious precursor/model for Liza Minnelli’s Sally Bowles (had Fosse seen this film?). but also a dead ringer for Tony Curtis in drag in Billy Wilder’s SOME LIKE IT HOT. And, no, this isn’t that much of a stretch since Wilder was @ UFA in ‘29 and even wrote May’s first Hollywood pic.
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