Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) - full transcript
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, only to be later found drowned. That same day, her father already has a new governess named Meta. Meinert, downstairs druggist, takes advance of her and gets Thymiane pregnant. When she refuses to marry, her baby is taken from her and she is put into a strict girls reform school. When Count Osdorff is unable to get the family to take her back, he waits for her to escape. She escapes with a friend and the friend goes with the Count while she goes to see her baby. Thymiane finds that her baby is dead, and the Count has put both girls up at a brothel. When her father dies, Thymiane marries the Count and becomes a Countess, but her past and her hatred of Meta will come back to her.
Diary of a Lost Girl was drastically
shortened and altered due to censorship.
In 1997, a reconstruction and photochemical
restoration of the originally intended version
was put together
by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna,
das Deutsche Filminstitut - DIF,
Frankfurt am Main,
and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung,
Wiesbaden.
It is based on a dupe-negative from
the Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen.
Most of the missing scenes were
added from a contemporary print
from the Archivo Nacional de la Imagen-
Sodre, Montevideo.
The reconstruction of the cut
shown at the original screening
was based on a comparison
of the surviving prints of the movie
as well as the censorship records
at the Filmoberprüfstelle Berlin.
The wording of the German intertitles
was reconstructed with the help
of German-French intertitles
in a print at the Cinémathéque Royals
de Belgique, Brussels.
The typography was modeled
on several surviving German titles
found in a print at the Archivo Nacional
de la Imagen-Sodre, Montevideo.
The master negative of this version
was the basis for the digitization in 2K.
Within the HD-resolution,
substantial damage to the images
such as deterioration of the source material
was retouched as much as possible.
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL
Based on the novel by
MARGARETE BÖHME
Written by
RUDOLF LEONHARDT
Directed by
G.W. PABST
Cinematography by
SEPP ALLGEIER
Sets by
ERNÖ METZNER
Cast
Pharmacist Henning
JOSEF ROVENSKY
Thymian, his daughter
LOUISE BROOKS
Aunt Frida
VERA PAWLOWA
Meta
FRANZISKA KINZ
Assistant Meinert
FRITZ RASP
Count Osdorff
ARNOLD KORFF
Count Osdorff, his nephew
ANDRE ROANNE
The Dean
ANDREWS ENGELMANN
His Wife
VALESKA GERT
Erika
EDITH MEINHARD
Dr. Vitalis
KURT GERRON
“So you've scared away
this housekeeper as well!”
“Why is Elisabeth leaving?
And today of all days?”
PHARMACY
“Why does Elisabeth have to go?”
“I will tell you tonight,
my little Thymian!”
“My big Thymian!!”
“A confirmation gift.”
“But I'm not a Countess!”
“That's quite all right,
for I am Count Osdorff!”
Tonight at 10:30, in the pharmacy.
“This is Meta, my new housekeeper.”
“Good night, my dear pharmacist!”
“I'm so alone!”
“I'll stand by you!”
“I will tell you
What happened to Elisabeth!”
“I will tell you everything!”
“She doesn’t want to say
who the father is.”
“Meinert!”
“You must marry her!”
“Well, if the pharmacy
vveren't so deep in debt...!”
“Thymian should be asked as well.”
“I can't marry him.
I don't love him!”
“Don't you touch this innocent child!”
The family...
has come to a decision.
Ww. BOLKE, MIDWIFE
FORBIDDEN
Dear Father,
Dear Osdorff,
I am so unhappy.
“Your nephew still doesn’t want
to do as he's told, Count.”
“I've tried everything with you,
every school and every profession,
and you have failed at all of them!”
“I've finally had enough!
You'll have to fend for yourself
from now on.”
At the reformatory,
very strict house rules were observed.
And the housekeeper
became lady of the house.
THYMIAN'S ROOM
CHILDREN'S ROOM
Count Osdorff decides to help Thymian.
Dear Osdorff, I am so unhappy.
What exactly have I done
to be treated so harshly and cruelly?
...because Meta has Father
wrapped around her finger.
Please go to him.
Maybe I can return home after all.
Yours, Thymian.
"I'm afraid to write to Father.
Meta is so wicked...”
“I heard that your uncle tossed you out.”
“Just go to Thymian.
You two belong together.
The vagabond and the lost girl.”
“Go to her and give her a kind word!”
“Your pharmacy has been spared
the auction block this time.
Now you are my debtor.”
Even the strictest reformatory
can not suppress a girl's wish to be pretty.
PUNISH ERIKA
Count Nikolaus Osdorff
“The count claims he's here
on behalf of your father.”
“They don't even want
to hear about you at home.
Meta has married your father.”
“Take the keys and I will help you.
I'll wait for you
in front of the house tonight.”
“I know a place where we can stay.”
“No, I want to see my child.”
“I'll write down
where you can find me.”
“The Two Angels” Bar
17 Dessauer St.
“I want to see my child.”
“Little Erika Henning.”
“She's just died.”
“Someone just came here
to take her away.”
“Don't you have anywhere to go, miss?”
“To Erika!”
The proprietress of the establishment
welcomes Erika and Count Osdorff
with open arms.
“And he also sends you his regards.”
“Be reasonable, child.
You don't even own
the shirt on your back.”
“If your friend will help you,
then you're free to go.”
“Me? I haven’t got a dime.
And my uncle cut me off.”
“I want to work!”
“Do you have what it takes,
my poor little child?”
“Please be so kind as to place
this ad in the newspaper.”
Dance lessons with Thymian Henning
at 17 Dessauer St.
Dance lessons with the beautiful
Thymian Henning at 17 Dessauer St.
“My child, how did you end up here?”
“I'm telling you,
you'll regret this deeply!”
“That's Dr. Vitalis.
He's always trying to save us.
But he always ends up playing along.”
“Why such a sour face, my friend?
Cheer up!”
Is today your birthday?”
“I know how to help you.
We will hold a lottery for you.”
Once a year, the pharmacist
and his wife visit the city.
“There you have it,
the seething morass of the big city.”
“And what could I win
with this lottery ticket?”
“Yes, Thymian,
now you are truly lost.”
“Just like the rest of us.”
Three years have passed since the painful
encounter between father and daughter.
Thymian continues to lead the same life.
After a short but painful illness,
my beloved husband,
pharmacist Karl Friedrich Henning,
passed away yesterday, June 17, 1929.
On behalf of the grieving family,
Meta Henning, née Koch.
The funeral will take place
at the house of mourning.
Regarding the matter of the inheritance
of the late pharmacist of Wismar,
Karl Friedrich Henning,
we ask you to kindly respond
to the following request:
Ms. Thymian Henning,
lawful heiress to the estate
of the late Karl Friedrich Henning,
is asked to attend
the opening of the will,
which will take place at the residence
of the late pharmacist.
“Shortly this house
will be blessed with a fortune,
delivered by a dark woman.”
“You're rich!”
“Yes, I could start a new life.”
“For a new life,
you'll need a new image.”
“He should marry her!
Countess Thymian Osdorff,
that's your new image!”
“As holder of the right to first exercise
your ownership stake in the pharmacy,
will you truly not refrain from...
evicting the poor widow of your friend?”
“Countess, Mr. Meinert will release
the share of the mortgage
that you inherited from your mother
to the amount of 45,000 marks...
thereby becoming
sole owner of the pharmacy.
Here is the money.”
“Filthy whore!”
“The money!
Where is all that money?”
“I gave it to my little sister,
lest she suffer the same fate as l.”
“And I? Am I to blame for his demise?”
“I must blame myself as his uncle.
I shouldn’t have disowned
this helpless boy.”
“May I attempt to right the wrong
I did to him by helping you?”
We are now in Swinemünde.
Uncle Osdorff is so charming.
I feel as if my former life were
nothing more than a bad dream.
“Cousin Osdorff!”
“My niece, Countess Osdorff.”
“Little Thymian,
don't you remember me?”
“My dear Countess,
please allow me to offer you my protection.”
“I'd like to-
We must leave here.”
“Dear Countess,
we'd like to invite you to join us
in our Society for the Support
of Troubled Young Women.”
The Society for the Support
of Troubled Young Women
cordially invites
Countess Thymian Osdorff
to a board meeting
and walk-through of our facility
on August 19, 1929.
Dean of the Board
“Our youngest member,
Countess Osdorff.”
“Today we'll discuss
a very difficult case.”
“A certain young woman has been
placed in our care once again.
She has made every effort
for reform impossible
through her repeated escape attempts.”
“We were so worried about her. ”
“Excellent! !
Try this, my dear.
They make excellent soup here!”
“But she continues to shy away
from the blessings of our house.”
“I know this house
and its blessings.”
“Your ignorance won't help her.
Let me try, for I once stood
where she stands today.”
“Just a little more love
and no one would be lost in this world!”
THE END
Reconstruction and Restoration
Archive Material
Film Laboratory and Restoration
Intertitles
Music
Recording Studio
Recording Engineer
Scan and Digital Mastering
shortened and altered due to censorship.
In 1997, a reconstruction and photochemical
restoration of the originally intended version
was put together
by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna,
das Deutsche Filminstitut - DIF,
Frankfurt am Main,
and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung,
Wiesbaden.
It is based on a dupe-negative from
the Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen.
Most of the missing scenes were
added from a contemporary print
from the Archivo Nacional de la Imagen-
Sodre, Montevideo.
The reconstruction of the cut
shown at the original screening
was based on a comparison
of the surviving prints of the movie
as well as the censorship records
at the Filmoberprüfstelle Berlin.
The wording of the German intertitles
was reconstructed with the help
of German-French intertitles
in a print at the Cinémathéque Royals
de Belgique, Brussels.
The typography was modeled
on several surviving German titles
found in a print at the Archivo Nacional
de la Imagen-Sodre, Montevideo.
The master negative of this version
was the basis for the digitization in 2K.
Within the HD-resolution,
substantial damage to the images
such as deterioration of the source material
was retouched as much as possible.
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL
Based on the novel by
MARGARETE BÖHME
Written by
RUDOLF LEONHARDT
Directed by
G.W. PABST
Cinematography by
SEPP ALLGEIER
Sets by
ERNÖ METZNER
Cast
Pharmacist Henning
JOSEF ROVENSKY
Thymian, his daughter
LOUISE BROOKS
Aunt Frida
VERA PAWLOWA
Meta
FRANZISKA KINZ
Assistant Meinert
FRITZ RASP
Count Osdorff
ARNOLD KORFF
Count Osdorff, his nephew
ANDRE ROANNE
The Dean
ANDREWS ENGELMANN
His Wife
VALESKA GERT
Erika
EDITH MEINHARD
Dr. Vitalis
KURT GERRON
“So you've scared away
this housekeeper as well!”
“Why is Elisabeth leaving?
And today of all days?”
PHARMACY
“Why does Elisabeth have to go?”
“I will tell you tonight,
my little Thymian!”
“My big Thymian!!”
“A confirmation gift.”
“But I'm not a Countess!”
“That's quite all right,
for I am Count Osdorff!”
Tonight at 10:30, in the pharmacy.
“This is Meta, my new housekeeper.”
“Good night, my dear pharmacist!”
“I'm so alone!”
“I'll stand by you!”
“I will tell you
What happened to Elisabeth!”
“I will tell you everything!”
“She doesn’t want to say
who the father is.”
“Meinert!”
“You must marry her!”
“Well, if the pharmacy
vveren't so deep in debt...!”
“Thymian should be asked as well.”
“I can't marry him.
I don't love him!”
“Don't you touch this innocent child!”
The family...
has come to a decision.
Ww. BOLKE, MIDWIFE
FORBIDDEN
Dear Father,
Dear Osdorff,
I am so unhappy.
“Your nephew still doesn’t want
to do as he's told, Count.”
“I've tried everything with you,
every school and every profession,
and you have failed at all of them!”
“I've finally had enough!
You'll have to fend for yourself
from now on.”
At the reformatory,
very strict house rules were observed.
And the housekeeper
became lady of the house.
THYMIAN'S ROOM
CHILDREN'S ROOM
Count Osdorff decides to help Thymian.
Dear Osdorff, I am so unhappy.
What exactly have I done
to be treated so harshly and cruelly?
...because Meta has Father
wrapped around her finger.
Please go to him.
Maybe I can return home after all.
Yours, Thymian.
"I'm afraid to write to Father.
Meta is so wicked...”
“I heard that your uncle tossed you out.”
“Just go to Thymian.
You two belong together.
The vagabond and the lost girl.”
“Go to her and give her a kind word!”
“Your pharmacy has been spared
the auction block this time.
Now you are my debtor.”
Even the strictest reformatory
can not suppress a girl's wish to be pretty.
PUNISH ERIKA
Count Nikolaus Osdorff
“The count claims he's here
on behalf of your father.”
“They don't even want
to hear about you at home.
Meta has married your father.”
“Take the keys and I will help you.
I'll wait for you
in front of the house tonight.”
“I know a place where we can stay.”
“No, I want to see my child.”
“I'll write down
where you can find me.”
“The Two Angels” Bar
17 Dessauer St.
“I want to see my child.”
“Little Erika Henning.”
“She's just died.”
“Someone just came here
to take her away.”
“Don't you have anywhere to go, miss?”
“To Erika!”
The proprietress of the establishment
welcomes Erika and Count Osdorff
with open arms.
“And he also sends you his regards.”
“Be reasonable, child.
You don't even own
the shirt on your back.”
“If your friend will help you,
then you're free to go.”
“Me? I haven’t got a dime.
And my uncle cut me off.”
“I want to work!”
“Do you have what it takes,
my poor little child?”
“Please be so kind as to place
this ad in the newspaper.”
Dance lessons with Thymian Henning
at 17 Dessauer St.
Dance lessons with the beautiful
Thymian Henning at 17 Dessauer St.
“My child, how did you end up here?”
“I'm telling you,
you'll regret this deeply!”
“That's Dr. Vitalis.
He's always trying to save us.
But he always ends up playing along.”
“Why such a sour face, my friend?
Cheer up!”
Is today your birthday?”
“I know how to help you.
We will hold a lottery for you.”
Once a year, the pharmacist
and his wife visit the city.
“There you have it,
the seething morass of the big city.”
“And what could I win
with this lottery ticket?”
“Yes, Thymian,
now you are truly lost.”
“Just like the rest of us.”
Three years have passed since the painful
encounter between father and daughter.
Thymian continues to lead the same life.
After a short but painful illness,
my beloved husband,
pharmacist Karl Friedrich Henning,
passed away yesterday, June 17, 1929.
On behalf of the grieving family,
Meta Henning, née Koch.
The funeral will take place
at the house of mourning.
Regarding the matter of the inheritance
of the late pharmacist of Wismar,
Karl Friedrich Henning,
we ask you to kindly respond
to the following request:
Ms. Thymian Henning,
lawful heiress to the estate
of the late Karl Friedrich Henning,
is asked to attend
the opening of the will,
which will take place at the residence
of the late pharmacist.
“Shortly this house
will be blessed with a fortune,
delivered by a dark woman.”
“You're rich!”
“Yes, I could start a new life.”
“For a new life,
you'll need a new image.”
“He should marry her!
Countess Thymian Osdorff,
that's your new image!”
“As holder of the right to first exercise
your ownership stake in the pharmacy,
will you truly not refrain from...
evicting the poor widow of your friend?”
“Countess, Mr. Meinert will release
the share of the mortgage
that you inherited from your mother
to the amount of 45,000 marks...
thereby becoming
sole owner of the pharmacy.
Here is the money.”
“Filthy whore!”
“The money!
Where is all that money?”
“I gave it to my little sister,
lest she suffer the same fate as l.”
“And I? Am I to blame for his demise?”
“I must blame myself as his uncle.
I shouldn’t have disowned
this helpless boy.”
“May I attempt to right the wrong
I did to him by helping you?”
We are now in Swinemünde.
Uncle Osdorff is so charming.
I feel as if my former life were
nothing more than a bad dream.
“Cousin Osdorff!”
“My niece, Countess Osdorff.”
“Little Thymian,
don't you remember me?”
“My dear Countess,
please allow me to offer you my protection.”
“I'd like to-
We must leave here.”
“Dear Countess,
we'd like to invite you to join us
in our Society for the Support
of Troubled Young Women.”
The Society for the Support
of Troubled Young Women
cordially invites
Countess Thymian Osdorff
to a board meeting
and walk-through of our facility
on August 19, 1929.
Dean of the Board
“Our youngest member,
Countess Osdorff.”
“Today we'll discuss
a very difficult case.”
“A certain young woman has been
placed in our care once again.
She has made every effort
for reform impossible
through her repeated escape attempts.”
“We were so worried about her. ”
“Excellent! !
Try this, my dear.
They make excellent soup here!”
“But she continues to shy away
from the blessings of our house.”
“I know this house
and its blessings.”
“Your ignorance won't help her.
Let me try, for I once stood
where she stands today.”
“Just a little more love
and no one would be lost in this world!”
THE END
Reconstruction and Restoration
Archive Material
Film Laboratory and Restoration
Intertitles
Music
Recording Studio
Recording Engineer
Scan and Digital Mastering