Die Straße (The Street). 1923. Germany. Directed by Karl Grune. Screenplay by Grune, Julius Urgiss. With Eugen Klöpfer, Lucie Höflich, Max Schreck, Aud Egede-Nissen. DCP. Restoration courtesy of Filmmuseum München. New York restoration premiere. 79 min.
Karl Grune’s expressionist landmark follows a respectable middle-aged burgher (Eugen Klöpfer) whose discontent with domestic routine propels him into a nocturnal odyssey through Berlin’s shadowy underworld. Abandoning his wife and comfortable apartment, the unnamed protagonist encounters a gallery of urban archetypes—prostitutes, gamblers, con artists, and criminals—who exploit his provincial naivety. Cinematographer Karl Hasselmann transforms Berlin’s streets into a hallucinatory labyrinth of distorted perspectives and menacing shadows, employing innovative lighting techniques that would influence film noir a decade later. Unlike the overtly stylized sets of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Grune’s psychological approach emphasizes the protagonist’s subjective experience through subtle distortions of everyday reality. The film’s exploration of urban dissatisfaction and alienation resonates beyond its Weimar context, establishing thematic concerns that would echo through European cinema for decades.