Asphalt (Der Polizeiwachtmeister und die Diamantenelse)

Germany, 1982. Director Joe May. 94min.

A pre-talkie release, Asphalt is a stunning gem of expressionist cinema, and a prime example of German “Strassenfilm”. Its shadowy scenes, the overt eroticism of the fatal woman and diamond thief Else, and the plot itself, in which an orderly traffic cop is caught in the web of crime and uncontrollable passion, all prefigure film noir. Yet it is in the way the story unfolds where director May shines, able to shift effortlessly from social realism to romantic melodrama and comedy. The film’s opening featuring the witty and dextrous thievery of “Diamantenelse,” as she was called in the German original.

With Betty Amann and Gustav Fröhlich.

Past screenings

If Looks Could Kill - London
Sunday 25 May 2008, 15:30 | BFI Southbank, NFT1
With live piano accompaniment.