Log in Register

DbcultAccessing Vault...

A Girl of the Street (1932) Review · 6.2/10 | Dbcult

6.2/10

Why you should watch A Girl of the Street (1932)

Author

Senior Film Conservator

27 May 2026

2 min read

A definitive 6.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Girl of the Street remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.

If you love old, crackly European movies from the 1930s or want to see where Billy Wilder got his start, A Girl of the Street is absolutely worth an hour and a half of your Sunday. But if you hate subtitles, predictable romance, or movies where people break into hyperactive acting styles, you should probably skip this one. 🧺

A Girl of the Street scene — Scene from A Girl of the Street

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Girl of the Street (1932) through its definitive frames.

I stumbled onto this German gem because of Dolly Haas. She plays Scampolo, a homeless teen in Berlin who basically decides she lives with a wealthy bank director now.

A Girl of the Street scene — Scene from A Girl of the Street

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Girl of the Street (1932) through its definitive frames.

The whole thing hinges on her energy. She doesn't just walk into a room; she sort of tumbles in like a stray puppy who knows you have food.

A Girl of the Street scene — Scene from A Girl of the Street

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Girl of the Street (1932) through its definitive frames.

Karl Ludwig Diehl plays the bank director, and honestly, he looks like he's wearing a collar that is three sizes too small. He spends the first half of the movie looking deeply annoyed, which is fair because this random girl just keeps showing up to deliver his laundry and never leaves.

A Girl of the Street scene — Scene from A Girl of the Street

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Girl of the Street (1932) through its definitive frames.

There is a really great, quiet moment where she is eating a bowl of soup. She eats it so fast, like she expects someone to snatch it away from her at any second.

A Girl of the Street scene — Scene from A Girl of the Street

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Girl of the Street (1932) through its definitive frames.

It’s a tiny physical detail, but it tells you more about her life on the street than any of the dialogue does.

You can definitely feel Billy Wilder's pen in the script. Some of the jokes have this sharp, slightly mean bite that keeps the movie from getting too mushy.

It is much lighter and faster than something like The Follies Girl, which feels sluggish by comparison. The dialogue here just zips along, even if you are reading translation captions.

Some weird details I wrote down:

That giant hat she wears in the middle of the movie looks like a collapsed umbrella. ☂️
The banker's apartment is absurdly huge, like a museum where someone randomly put a bed.
There is a dog in one scene that clearly wants to run off-screen to its trainer.
The background music sometimes just cuts out randomly, which made me think my speakers died.

It isn't a perfect movie, and the ending feels like they ran out of film and just decided to stop. Still, Dolly Haas is so charming that you won't mind the sudden credits.