In German silent cinema, the street was seen as a metaphor for the anonymous and hectic life in the big city. Karl Grune's classic ThE STREET was the prototype of the "street film". It describes the experiences of a man who tries to break out of his petty bourgois existence and to resist the temptations of the nightlife. Expressionist shadow plays are combined with stylized realism, announcing the New Objectivity. The amazing educational film DANGERS OF THE BIG CITY STREETS was produced in collaboration with the Munich police. It shows the daily life in a German city of the 1920s and is a unique and entertaining document about Munich. Both films were beautifully restored by the Munich Filmmuseum and scored by well-known silent film musicians.
Release date: January 2025
The films
Die Straße. Der Film einer Nacht / The Street - Germany 1923 - Directed and written by: Karl Grune - Cinematography by: Karl Hasselmann - Sets and design by: Karl Goerge, Ludwig Meidner - Cast: Eugen Klöpfer, Lucie Höflich, Leonhard Haskel, Aud Egede Nissen, Hans Trautner, Max Schreck - Produced by: Stern-Film G.m.b.H., Berlin - Premiere: November 20, 1923 (Union-Theater am Kurfüstendamm, Berlin)
Gefahren der Großstadt-Straße / Dangers of the Big City Streets - Germany 1924 - Directed and written by: Toni Attenberger - Cinematography by: Otto Trippel - Produced by: Cabinet-Film Toni Attenberger, Munich - Premiere: December 15, 1923 (Urania, Berlin)
DVD features
- Die Straße 1923, 80'
- Score by Günter A. Buchwald and Frank Bockius
- Gefahren der Großstadt-Straße 1924, 67'
- Score by Richard Siedhoff
- Chapter selection
- 16page booklet with texts by Stefan Drössler, Eugen Klöpfer, Albert Sander, Louis Collier and Hans Spielhofer
DVD edited by: Filmmuseum München
DVD authoring: Tobias Dressel, Gunther Bittmann
DVD supervision: Stefan Drössler
First edition January 2025
