Marlene Dietrich, almost fully ‘Dietrich’ and much more electric than the film, is the daughter of a rich louche industrialist who falls for a pickpocket (Willi Forst as Fredl). The film has one great shot of Fredl coming out of prison, huge expressionist doors, Fredl becoming larger and larger as he approaches the camera, and then his shadow becoming visible, foreshadowing the trouble he will cause. We unfortunately will not get to see it because the last reel of the film is missing. The screening was memorable for a superb musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The film is memorable because Dietrich before ‘Dietrich’ is already desirous, wanton, the camera already drawing attention to the legs, willing to do all for love, yet already slightly ironic and about to be bored with it. She dances the Black Bottom but actually her sharp graceful movements in merely walking already generate more electricity the film.

Seen as part of Ritrovato 2024