Unter der Laterne

Gerhard Lamprecht is one of the most unjustly forgotten of the directors of the German golden age. He is rarely remembered for any film other than Emil und die Detektive (1931) and even that people seem reluctant to credit to him, preferring to believe that it was really the work of Billy Wilder (who wrote the scenario). Yet Lamprecht was a fine director, very ably backed by the cinematographer Hasselmann who worked with him on all his films. His films are strongly in the German naturalist tradition (neue Sachligkeit) with a strongly "social realist" feel and an imaginative highly imaginative (if a shade over-glamorous) use of the camera which is allowed to do nearly all the story-telling.

It is very good news that the Deutschen Kinamathek, which Lamprecht as both film-historian and film-collector, was instrumental in founding in 1962 and himself ran until 1966, are now producing very fine restorations of Lamprecht's silent films, this one amongst them.

It is the age-old story of the fallen woman, but it is beautifully, honestly and unsentimetally told and very well acted throughout. A long film (over two hours), it is nevertheless well worth watching. And one can look forward to a feast of other films (Die Verrufenen, Die Unehelichen and Menschen Untereinander are all certainly available and perhaps one day one will be able to see the 1923 version of Thomas Mann's Die Buddenbrooks.

We learn more and more each year of the depth and strength of the German film industry in the twenties but the work of Lamprecht is an important addition to our knowledge and understanding.