Tragedy of the Street (Dirnentragödie) 97 years old

Before road movies there were street films, a distinct cycle within German silent cinema. The essential ingredient - misalliance between bourgeois and slum dweller - is present here, though somewhat displaced by Asta Nielsen's star persona. She plays an aging hooker who falls for handsome Felix, a student who has rowed with his parents and ventured into the lower depths. Dreaming of a new life, she ejects her pimp and invests her savings in a cake shop. Even without that title, though, you wouldn't bet on a happy ending. Nielsen is a quite restrained sort of diva, and Rahn likewise soft pedals the melodrama, except for the grand finale. He died soon after making this, his contemporaries regretting the masterworks the cinema was thus denied. Well, maybe.

Credits

Oskar Homolka as Anton - Pimp

Hilde Jennings as Clarissa - Young Street Walker

Asta Nielsen as Auguste - Old Street Walker

Hermann Picha as Kauzke - Pianist

Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein as His Mother

Gerhard Dammann as

Tragedy of the Street Cast

Name	Character
Oskar Homolka He was 28, 79 years old when he died	as Anton - Pimp
Hilde Jennings She was 20, 63 years old when she died	as Clarissa - Young Street Walker
Asta Nielsen She was 45, 90 years old when she died	as Auguste - Old Street Walker
Hermann Picha He was 62, 71 years old when he died	as Kauzke - Pianist
Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein She was 60, 98 years old when she died	as His Mother
Gerhard Dammann He was 44, 62 years old when he died
Otto Kronburger He was 37, 54 years old when he died	as His Father

Tragedy of the Street Crew

Name	Department
Guido Seeber as Director of Photography. He was 47 (61) years old when He died	Camera

Tragedy of the Street (97 years)

Release day: Thursday, April 14, 1927
Runtime: 114 minutes