Joe May's sensual drama of life in the Berlin underworld is in many ways the perfect summation of German film-making in the silent era
Asphalt was one of the last silent films released in Germany as the world was entering the era of sound film.
Directed by: Joe May
Written by: Hans Szekely
Starring: Gustav Fröhlich, Else Heller, Albert Steinruck, Betty Amann
After studying in Berlin and a variety of odd jobs, he began his career as a stage director of operettas in Hamburg. He took his stage name from his wife, the actress Mia May (born Hermine Pfleger).
In 1915 he founded his own film production company, May-Film GmbH and began to produce a successful series of crime films. Towards the end of the 1920s, May moved away from adventure films and produced more realist works, notable among them the World War I love-triangle Heimkehr (The Return Home) (1928) and the contemporary thriller Asphalt (1929).
In 1933 he and Mia, along with many others in the German film industry, emigrated to the United States where he was able to establish himself as director, mainly for Universal Pictures.
