Tagebuch Einer Verlorenen (aka Diary Of A Lost Girl) (1929)

After being raped by a pharmacist (Fritz Rasp) while she was unconscious, a young girl (Louise Brooks) becomes pregnant. Her indignant father (Josef Rovensky) casts her out and she is sent to a home for "wayward" girls and her life's path is set. Based on the novel by Margarete Bohme and directed by G.W. Pabst (THREEPENNY OPERA). Brooks and Pabst had previously collaborated on PANDORA'S BOX to great acclaim the same year (1929) and while I admired that movie, I find myself preferring this follow up film. Brooks wasn't a great actress (though to be fair, she was one of the most natural of actresses in silent cinema) but she had one of the great screen presences in silent film. When she's on screen, she's a magnet to the audience. Pabst's film looks at the sexual hypocrisy of a society where a man can seduce a girl then condemn her as a tramp while the male gets off scot-free. If you've never seen Louise Brooks, that should be remedied immediately! With Franziska Kinz, Andre Roanne and Edith Meinhard.