Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (1929)

Director:

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writers:

Margarete Böhme (novel)
Rudolf Leonhardt (writer)

Release Date:

24 April 1930 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Thymiane is a beautiful young girl who is not having a storybook life. Her governess, Elizabeth, is thrown out of her home when she is pregnant...

Plot Keywords:

Innocence | Escape | Reformatory | Sentimental | Loss Of Innocence

Cast

Louise Brooks	...	Thymiane
André Roanne	...	Count Nicolas Osdorff
Josef Rovenský	...	Robert Henning
Fritz Rasp	...	Meinert
Vera Pawlowa	...	Aunt Frieda
Franziska Kinz	...	Meta
Arnold Korff	...	Elder Count Osdorff
Andrews Engelmann	...	The director of the establishment
Valeska Gert	...	The director's wife
Edith Meinhard	...	Erika
Sybille Schmitz	...	Elisabeth
Sig Arno	...	Guest (as Siegfried Arno)
Kurt Gerron	...	Dr. Vitalis
Hedwig Schlichter
Hans Casparius
Jaro Fürth
Emmy Wyda
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marfa Kassatskaya		(as M. Kasazkaya)
Sylvia Torf
Michael von Newlinsky

Directed by
Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Margarete Böhme		novel
Rudolf Leonhardt		writer

Produced by
Georg Wilhelm Pabst	....	producer

Original Music by
Otto Stenzeel

Cinematography by
Sepp Allgeier
Fritz Arno Wagner

Art Direction by
Emil Hasler
Ernö Metzner

Production Management
Heinz Landsmann	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Falkenberg	....	assistant director
Marc Sorkin	....	assistant director

Production Companies

• Pabst-Film
• Hom-AG für Filmfabrikation

Also Known As:

Diary of a Lost Girl (USA)
Diário de Uma Perdida (Brazil) [pt]
Diario de una joven perdida, El (Venezuela) [es]
Diario di una donna perduta (Italy) [it]
Diario di una ragazza perduta, Il (Italy) [it]
Dusze bez steru (Poland) [pl]
Dziennik upadlej dziewczyny (Poland) (informal literal title) [pl]
Journal d'une fille perdue, Le (France) [fr]
Journal d'une jeune fille perdue, Le (Canada: French title) [fr]
Kadotetun päiväkirja (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

104 min | 115 min (Kino Print) | Germany:100 min (restored version) (24 fps) | USA:79 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Pabst-Film

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the sheet is removed from the face of the "corpse", she reacts slightly.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lulu in Berlin (1984)

Louise Brooks And Sordid Storyline Keep You Interested

I was a really looking forward to seeing this production, but I was surprised to see that I was not particularly enamored with it. Pabst's direction is very generic but the material is fascinating enough to grab the viewer's attention. The film tackles a series of adult issues in a bold manner. Rape, pedophilia and prostitution are just a few things the movie handles in a candid way. There are no subtle insinuations here; everything is presented the way it is, without sugarcoating anything. I guess my main, and probably only valid complaint, is that the heroine of the story is such a passive character that I had problems connecting with her. The star of the film is the fascinating Louise Brooks, but her character does not allow her to show any real dramatic range. The camera is in love with Brooks, no doubt about that, but she lacks the fire of someone like Garbo; even Joan Crawford would shredded the movie to pieces with her great magnetism. I'm not sure if it is a narrative problem or an issue related to Brooks's dramatic abilities, but her character is a bit boring. Still, it is an interesting movie.