''The Devious Path'' (german: Abwege), also titled ''Crisis'', is a 1928 German silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Georg Wilhelm Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

starring

Gustav Diessl Gustav Diessl (30 December 1899 – 20 March 1948) was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor. Biography Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar Diessl in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruite ...

and Brigitte Helm.

Plot

Irene is frustrated by the inattentiveness of her lawyer husband Thomas, who refuses to go out with her and makes no secret of his aversion against her friend Liane. Attracted by artist Walter Frank, Irene visits him in his studio and agrees to his proposal to elope to Austria together, but Thomas puts an end to their plan. Later, she accompanies Thomas's colleague Möller to a nightclub, where she meets Liane and her friends and makes the acquaintance of boxer Sam. When Irene returns home, the couple seems to come closer to each other again, but when Thomas discovers a mascot which she took with her from the nightclub, he withdraws from her. The next day, Liane and her friends pay Irene a visit, who is still lying in bed. Enervated by her guests, she becomes even more infuriated when Thomas makes no move to send them away. She visits Sam's workout place and talks him into visiting Frank's studio together. After fighting off Sam's advances, Liane causes a scene by making Thomas, who was told of her whereabouts by Liane, believe that she was about to sleep with Frank. Some time later, Irene and Thomas appear at court for their divorce, but no sooner that their marriage has been dissoluted, they rediscover their feelings for each other and decide to get married again.

Cast

as Dr. Thomas Beck * Brigitte Helm as Irene Beck *

Hertha von Walther Hertha von Walther (born Hertha Stern und Walter von Monbary, 12 June 1903 – 12 April 1987) was a German film actress. She appeared in 80 films between 1921 and 1983. Biography Hertha von Walther was born Hertha Stern und Walther von Monb ...

as Liane *

Jack Trevor Anthony Cedric Sebastian Steane (14 December 1893 – 19 December 1976), known by the stage name Jack Trevor, was a British film actor of the silent and early sound era. Based in Weimar (and later Nazi) Germany, he acted in 67 films between ...

as Walter Frank * Fritz Odemar as Councillor Möller *

Nico Turoff Nico Turoff ( Ukrainian: Ніко Турофф; 6 December 1899 – 22 June 1978) was a Ukrainian boxer and actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1926 to 1979. Selected filmography References External links * 1899 b ...

as Sam Taylor * Ilse Bachmann as Anita Haldern * Richard Sora as André * Peter Leschka as Robert * Irm Cherry as Daisy * Irma Green as Gina * Tita Christescu as maid * Jimmy Lygelt as second boxer

Production

''The Devious Path'' was produced by

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

-based company Erda Film for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Otto Erdmann and

Hans Sohnle Hans Sohnle (17 September 1895 – 24 March 1976) was a German art director.Chandler p.270 He frequently collaborated with Otto Erdmann on set designs. Selected filmography * '' The Loves of Käthe Keller'' (1919) * '' The Woman in Doctor's Ga ...

Release and legacy

''The Devious Path'' premiered in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

on 10 August 1928 and in Berlin on 5 September 1928. In 1998, a restored version of the film was compiled from an incomplete German

film negative In photography, a negative is an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest. This reversed order occurs because t ...

and an incomplete print with French intertitles. This version premiered on Arte TV on 10 June 1999.

Reception

In his 1947 study '' From Caligari to Hitler'', film historian

Siegfried Kracauer Siegfried Kracauer (; ; February 8, 1889 – November 26, 1966) was a German writer, journalist, sociologist, cultural critic, and film theorist. He has sometimes been associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. He is notable for ...

rated ''The Devious Path'' as "negligible if it were not for the nightclub scenes in which Pabst manages to evoke the impression that his characters are as they are because of the emptiness of the world they inhabit". Commenting on the film's restoration, the ''Filmdienst'' called Pabst's film a chamber play which "clear-sightedly reflects its characters' hollow rituals" and has remained "remarkably timeless" in its handling of subject and form.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devious Path, The 1928 films German silent feature films 1928 drama films German black-and-white films Films directed by G. W. Pabst Films of the Weimar Republic Films with screenplays by Franz Schulz German drama films Universal Pictures films Silent drama films 1920s German films