The Devious Path

(Abwege)
(Crisis)

  • Judith Rosenberg
    On Piano
featuring

Brigitte Helm, Gustav Diessl, Hertha von Walther, Jack Trevor,

Brigitte Helm gives a fascinating performance in this incisive portrait of bourgeois languor. A wife, bored with her husband (Gustav Diessl) and safe existence, is drawn to a painter and his bohemian milieu. But her fantasies of an alternative life turn against her in the most unrelenting way, as G. W. Pabst continues his fascination with female psychology that would culminate in Pandora’s Box. Helm’s “curious, fascinating power has never been exploited with such skill,” wrote film critic Paul Rotha. Previously neglected by Pabst scholars, because it was not in keeping with the director’s humanist image, this cool, understated film may be his most modern.

FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Adolf Lantz
  • Ladislaus Vajda
  • Helen Gosewisch
Based On
  • a story by Franz Schulz

Cinematographer
  • Theodor Sparkuhl
Language
  • German intertitles
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • B&W
  • DCP
  • Silent
  • 98 mins
Source
  • Munich Filmmuseum

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