Asphalt

Once the script shows its hand - upright cop meets sexy jewel thief - this late silent holds minimal narrative interest beyond whether it's going to be about his corruption or her redemption. However, May's handling of individual scenes is impressive. Reality is put in its place when location shots of the city are followed by a breathtaking Expressionist caricature of what we've just been shown, with the camera craning and tracking through throngs of extras and fleets of vehicles on UFA's enormous street set. There's a bank vault break-in handled with Melvillian cool, but the revelation is Betty Amann's relentless cloche-hatted vamp and the eye-popping sequence of her seduction, or rather rape, of the innocent cop.