Starring Betty Amann in her most famous leading role, Joe May's Asphalt is a luxuriously produced German Expressionist classic where tragic liaisons and fatal encounters are shaped alongside the constant roar of Berlin traffic.
Cinematography
Günther Rittau's shimmering asphalt-as-ocean imagery
Costume
Amann's stolen fox fur that moves like a living thing
Director
Joe May
Albert Steinrück
Hauptwachtmeister Holk
Else Heller
Mutter Holk
Gustav Fröhlich
Wachtmeister Albert Holk
Betty Amann
Else Kramer
Hans Adalbert Schlettow
Konsul Langen
Hans Albers
Erster Dieb
Rosa Valetti
Geschäftsführerin
Paul Hörbiger
Zweiter Dieb
Arthur Duarte
Rudolf Meinhard-Jünger
Karl Platen
Hermann Vallentin
Kurt Vespermann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Betty Amann was so devastating in this role that German audiences reportedly sent her hate mail for years.
Joe May's massive UFA production nearly bankrupted the studio — this was the last gasp of Weimar cinema's unchecked visual excess before sound arrived.
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