Karl Grune's direction offered a heavy dose of German Expressionism in November 1923's "The Street." What's unique in the Austrian director's co-written script is how two seemingly separate stories merge in the finale while large anonymous city streets take on as a character unto itself. The street is one big expressionistic nightmare, serving as a catalyst for danger and chaos to the movie's protagonist (Eugen Klopfer).
In an unique dual aesthetic rare in cinema, "The Street" was filmed showing both expressionistic visuals of a city's bustling activity while at the same delving deeply into our protaganist's feelings and thought by capturing symbolic impressionistic images. The focal point of "The Street" is on a restless married man whose drawn outside to the excitement of the metropolitan avenues by looking from the inside of his mundane domestic quarters with his one-dimensional wife. We see his point-of-view looking out the window through dreamy, kaleidoscopic-layered split screens. Also, once on the street, he sees a streetwalker, whose head turns into a skull, foretelling the potential fatal adventures that's awaiting him.
While Klopfer walks the streets, an old blind man, (Max Schreck, the actor who was the vampire in 1922's 'Nosferatu') is guided by his young grandson. "The Street" oozes with symbols: a neon sign boldly leads Klopfer to a cabaret where he gets snared by a hooker, while a sign in front of an optometrist office with gigantic eyes, pointing out the street sees everything. Klopfer is eventually brought to the blind man and his grandson's apartment. A murder takes place, with Klopfer, who started out in the movie just looking for a little fun in the streets, being accused of the killing.
"The Street" served as a template for future German 'street films' where the main or pivotal explanatory action takes place on city venues. "The Street" became Jewish director Grune's pinnacle achievement. When the Nazi's came into power, he left Germany in 1933 , immigrating to England, where he directed three films. He later turned to producing movies, remaining in England until his death in 1962.
