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Asphalt
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(DVD - Code 1) (US-Import)
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Inhalt: |
Joe May's Sensual Drama Of Life In The Berlin UnderworId.
From its elaborate and stylish opening scenes, AsphaIt immediateIy establishes itself as a startling achievement. This unforgettabIe fiIm is in many ways the perfect summation of German fiImmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to its characters, and the abiIity to take a simpIe and essentiaIIy melodramatic story and turn it into something more complex and inherentIy cinematic. AIthough influenced by such cIassics as The Last Laugh and Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, AsphaIt is a unique Iook at urban life and a classic in its own right.
Gustav Fröhlich, best known as the young protagonist of Metropolis, stars as HoIk, a strait-laced traffic cop who has the simple task of escorting a diamond thief to the police station. However, the thief is the exotic and beautifuI Else , which makes the task far from simple. The stage is thus set for a scandaIous turn of events, and the drama is made alI the more exciting thanks to the dynamic photography of Günther Rittau and the equally impressive sets of Erich Kettelhut .
Asphalt is directed by Joe May, a Ieading German fiImmaker of the 1910s and 1920s who is also known for the two-part epic The lndian Tomb. In addition, he helped to Iaunch the career of Fritz Lang. Like Lang, May Iater reIocated to HolIywood, where he directed several classic B-fiIms, most notably The lnvisibIe Man Returns. But Asphalt remains perhaps his most famous, and some say greatest, work. |
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