Slums of Berlin (1927)

Gerald Lamprecht's impressionistic 1925 character study Die Verrufenen was released in the U.S. in 1927 as The Slums of Berlin. Bernard Goetzke heads the cast as paroled convict Robert Kramer, trying to scratch out a meager living despite the misery and deprivation all around him. Unable to find a job, Kramer decides to end it all by jumping into the river. He is rescued by Emma (Aug Egede Nissen), a woman of the streets. Though grateful to Emma, Robert cannot help but become involved with several other women, one of whom already has a husband. The combination of Robert's ex-con status and his in-built character flaws doom him to a life sentence among the "down-and-outers." Held in high regard by European critics, Slums of Berlin was less enthusiastically received in the U.S., where one cynical observer suggested the title should have been Bums of Berlin.