This interesting West German film was made when the country was in the first phase of reconstruction but still under the occupation of the Allied powers. The vignettes of German life at the time include such historically valuable details as the presence of the US military police as well as ample signs of reconstruction of the autobahns requiring frequent detours, which play an important part in this drama/thriller. The main character is an elderly, married truck driver (Hans Albers) with a newly-wed daughter. During his tours from Bavaria to Frankfurt he has a fateful encounter with a hitch-hiking young woman (Hildegard Knef), who is already engaged in a liaison with a black marketeer (Marius Goring). Albers was a great German actor with a big film repertoire who was often cast in aristocratic roles (cf. "Münchhausen" (1943). It is all the more remarkable, therefore, that he was able to play this truck driver so convincingly. Hildegard Knef, too, gives a brilliant performance, first ensnarling the old man according to the scheme plotted by her lover, but in the end becoming seriously involved with Albers. She makes this transition very convincingly, demonstrating what an accomplished actress she was. Marius Goring was an English actor who also made some films on the Continent. Usually typecast as a villain in British films, he plays the same type of role here in his usual assured manner. It is interesting to compare Albers in this role with his slightly younger French contemporary Jean Gabin, who also plays a family man and truck driver in Verneuil's film "Des gens sans importance" (1956), which features similarly a fateful encounter with a young woman. "Nachts auf den Straßen" is a well-crafted film, with an interesting story, excellent performances by some of the best German actors of the time, and beautiful photography which captures the fascinating background of a Germany in transformation but still scarred from the war. This is a forgotten film which I think deserves to be known by a broader international public, hence the English hard subs available on youtube (so far)
Review of The Mistress
