Made during the last years of the silents, while in the United states ,Hollywood was beginning to make sound films, Germany had not converted yet.Brigitte Helms is good at playing the Frustrated housewife, being constantly ignored by her husband , played by Gustav Diessl , who would dye his hair black and play in Kolberg ,1944, who's prudish and so busy as a corporate lawyer that he has no time for her. Whats a girl who live in a doll house to do? Call her party girl friend , who has some common sense, and have great party adventures with her , played by Hertha Von Walthers. Her boy friend and the rest of the gang. Irene begs Gustave to go to a party with her ,put on by her best friend. But he warns her to stay away from that women. He's just an old bore and party pooper. So she goes to her best friend place for partying and guess who she meets? Walter Frank artist, played by British actor Jack Trevor, who would appear in Immensee later.So bored she agree with him that she should leave her husband and go with him to roaring twenties's Austria.The husband has already spy on her and knows what she is doing. Walter tells her to meet at the train the next day.Wow! Wee. Irene has not gotten off!, not even her honey moon. She's still a virgin.She'll finally get rid of her maiden hood. Jack taking what he's saved for himself to buy tickets for the train. Then he's confronted by the husband . The next day he never shows up.Her husband shows up to the train station to take her home . He gives her a letter. It turns out that because he not rich , for her benefit ,gives her up.Later she begs her husband to go out on the town with her but he refuses. Well, she dresses up her self and goes out with her best friend and her best friend 's friend Fritz Odemar. They all end up at a wild night club. She notices Jack is at the bar with two women . She mad at him but shows she's going to have a good time. there's a strange women at the place by herself.She keeps asking everyone for something. It turns out she a cocaine addict and a pusher . She is looking for a drug dealer. She meets one and gets her drugs. She goes in this back room to get high. A boxer ,portrayed by Nico Turoff, start throwing new years strings at her ,to get her attention. She ignores him, Fritz is giving the girls at the night club his money. All of a sudden the drug girl Lures Irene to the back room and she goes. A porn remake would have them do a lesbian tryst. But that not it . She shares her cocaine with Irene . Then she come out very high, Irene. She asks her best friend, Liane .who that is . She reveals to her that she is a widow of a banker who killed himself cause of her drug addiction. She starts being scared that Gustave might do the same thing .So she takes off back home.Only to find that he's been waiting for her.The window is open, sleeping on the couch with a coat. She's scared that she might have killed himself but he's alive. They end up in good speaking terms , Now there's a chance that she will finally have her sex life until he notices the boxing male doll she bought at the night club. This angers him Well the next day she want to try to get Jack back. She goes to her friends to watches a boxer , Nico, practicing his boxing. Against her friend advices takes the boxer with her to Jacks house for an allege portrait.Well this takes the kick. She goes to Irene Husband to inform him that his wife is going to do something stupid. While they are there he's out. It turns out that the boxer finds out that she might of had affair with Jack. He gets jealous and tries to rape her . Jack comes in the nick of time. The boxer leaves and Jack doesn't want her neither.The husband is banging on the door. So she takes her clothe off to show her under ware to implied that she did it. He see it,then leaves. Divorce!. She regrets it cause she still love him .Too late. So with the help of Jack he devices a plan to get her off easy. But right after the divorce they both fall in love with each other again. This was one of G.W. Pabst bomb. Like the one he did for Warner Brothers in 1934. forcing him to face the Nazis or starve. Or that what he thought. He could have tried stage work or radio. Available at Reichs Kino 09/14/11
Review of The Devious Path
