Das Lied vom Leben

This Brechtian musical about a young woman who flees from her decrepit, noble fiancé and marries a sailor is an interesting, although not a completely successful attempt to translate the sort of stage show to film. It has some good points, including the complete abandonment of the sort of surrealistic stage design that had enlivened the silent cinema. Instead, this tries for a purely cinematic technique, including multiple exposures, undercranking and distorting camera angles and lenses.

Unfortunately the use of these techniques is so heavy-handed that it overwhelms the human side of the story -- which is something that Brecht's stuff, and the work of his imitators were also known to have done.

Peculiarly enough the remaining print, which times out at fifty-five minutes, has about a third of its length taken up with a Caeserian birth operation, alternating with undercranked shots of her husband racing up and down the hospital steps.

Overall a watchable example of the sort of experimental cinema that was being tried at the time, hoping to save a lot of technique that was thrown out with the advent of sound.... one can see why they threw out a lot.