Germany
directed by: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
written by: Ladislaus Vajda + Frank Wedekind (book)
starring: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer
seen: 26th November, 2009, comment: 10th June, 2017
This film represents a rather unbalanced mix of blunt uncompromising and lengthy naivety. I guess this is how "destructive feminity" looks like when it's completely imagined by men. Up untill the courtroom scene Pabst presents the audience with beautifully and eloquently framed cruel theatre that would very well work without any additional intertitles. Then the genre/presentation shifts into some weirdly overcomplicated soap opera in an underground casino, where a lot of things sort of "transpire", but I think that this entire passage could be removed without any harm to the overall story and it would also lead to a much better, cleaner film. And the closing London chapter goes back to being great, mean, expressive and ultimately cinematic way of finishing what the director started in opening parts of the film.
So what I'm saying is that the film craft was executed splendidly, but the process of adapting the book story arc to a film story arc - not so much.
"It's strange how you can get booze on credit... but not bread."
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