IMDb > Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) > Reviews & Ratings - IMDb
Tagebuch einer Verlorenen
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotes
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany credits
Awards & Reviews
user reviewsexternal reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guidemessage board
Plot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsmemorable quotes
Did You Know?
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQ
Other Info
box office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specsliterature listingsNewsDesk
taglines trailers and videos posters photo gallery
External Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clips

Reviews & Ratings for
Diary of a Lost Girl More at IMDbPro »Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (original title)

Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 4 of 5: [Prev][1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [Next]
Index 43 reviews in total 

4 out of 8 people found the following review useful:

Diary of a Lost Girl

Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY
2 March 2008

Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)

*** (out of 4)

Fairly raw German silent from director G.W. Pabst. A young woman (Louise Brooks) is raped and is eventually thrown out of her house when she has a baby. From here on the girl goes to a reform school, becomes a whore but will she find redemption? I was somewhat letdown by the film since I felt it did have a few flaws. I thought the men characters were really one sided and the second half of the film drags somewhat but there are certainly more positives than negatives. Brooks is terrific in the lead role and does a great job at showing off the virginal younger girl and the eventual sluttish, if mature, older woman. There's a scene where she's working and her father notices her. Within the same scene we see Brooks "slut" slide melt away into that virginal girl we saw at the end of the film in some of the best acting I've seen. The mood and atmosphere is very strong at the start of the film and the morality ending actually works quite nicely.

Was the above review useful to you?

1 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

Brooks, Pabst, typified classic

Author: wedgwood from nz
27 September 2002

Definately one of Pabsts more enjoyable films. But why did he have such a weakness for creating severely feeble men? It's taken just a bit irritatingly too far for my taste, although not nearly so bad in Tagebuch as in Pandora's Buchse.

Thymaine was a thoroughly likable character surrounded by a world of imbeciles. Maybe it was the silent aspect that debilitated this, but I thought it was sadly lacking in the relationship development department. I have noticed this in other Pabst films though. Very relieving end -9/10.

Was the above review useful to you?

3 out of 7 people found the following review useful:

Throws itself terribly out of control...

Author: Polaris_DiB from United States
30 November 2005

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A young, upperclass woman named Thymian is excised from her family when a combination of incidents including her father's affair with the housekeeper, the death of the governess, and her rape by her father's business partner resulting in impregnation causes the family as a whole to send her away (for various reasons, some of which are unknown) to a reformatory. The draconian actions of the reformatory cause her to run away with a young Count, but unfortunately he is penniless and they have nowhere to go, so she gets stuck in a brothel of sorts where she lives until circumstances bring her back to her family and eventually lead her to a new life and new identity, from which she learns compassion for the other "lost girls" of the world.

Technically, that's what it's about.

At least, that's what happens. The problem with this film is that Thymian is the only character with any motivation, and it's a slight and unfocused one at that. For the first half of the film, indeed, one at least can be forgiving to the film because the characters inherent (and physical) beauty at least provides some sort of motion to the storyline. Unfortunately, since the characters have no motivation, and since the director seems entirely unwilling to let anything tragic have its due in the world, the movie skips past what could possibly be a beautiful and tragic ending and continues for another hour or so on tangents without importance or design.

At first this discursiveness seems rather stunning and unexpected, but a quick look back over a few points of the first half of the film start revealing that indeed, it seems Pabst really didn't have a clear understanding of overaching tones, themes, motifs. He has a storyline and names for characters, but no personalities or plot. For instance, the name of this movie: DIARY of a Lost Girl. The beginning is quite clear and obvious the importance of the diary to the character of Thymian, but not only does it not sustain its direct duty to bring her some form of closure, revelation, or salvation, it also simply disappears after a certain point and is never heard of again.

Furthermore, the movie strives to close up all threads with an opportunistic idea that everything can work out, but it closes up threads that needn't be included or are even merely incidental in the story arch. I repeat: the characters lack motivation. Since the characters lack motivation, what are they supposed to do to win, or lose, or react to events? They have nowhere to go or expand, and thus the ending keeps getting further and further away.

Most distressing about watching this film is it's complete lack of understanding about tone. It goes to extremes that seem at first to show the incredible level of conformity, decadence, ignorance, or whatever, but eventually go to far and fail to make an organized statement. Little nods to lesbianism are included for no real reason whatsoever. And what about Thymian's tendency to pass out before being taken advantage of? If it's meant to show her lack of control over the situation, it's a very maudlin and over-indulgent attempt.

In fact, why does Thymian want to hide the identity of the father of her baby when she was quite clearly raped? Some rape victims tend to victimize themselves by claiming that they deserved it, but there's no hint, nod, or involvement of that dysfunction. Why does the mistress of the reformatory derive such pleasure at the exercise of the girls? There's no clear evidence to support that she's sadistic, lesbian, or any has any form of motivation besides the fact that showing her wild grinning face seems a good way to get a reaction from the audience. Why is the housekeeper turned stepmother so stern, and furthermore, why can't she seem to make any face other than her one stern one? Sometimes this film goes to lengths, also, to go further into depth about things that don't deserve such treatment. Most of the ending seems to be an attempt by the filmmakers to take control of the theme (which they don't have) by reintroducing arbitrary characters and involving them in entirely new plot lines that don't have any coherent or enthused meaning on the overall storyarch. Basically, as soon as the Count's son inexplicably kills himself, the movie becomes saturated with false pretensions towards positivity, endurance, and "love" without taking the time to admit that the entire movie has already ended.

From there, the whole thing begins to fall entirely out of control and gets worse and worse until roughly about the beach scene and beyond, which if by that point you're still paying attention and caring about where the characters are going, you're just going to be lead to one of the most antithetical climaxes in film history. Yes, the Count actually said that line, and yes, that's all you're left with.


Was the above review useful to you?

0 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

Das tagebuch einer Verlorenen.

Author: Andrew Roughton ( from Oxford, England.
28 February 2001

1929 saw the release of Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, which traced the traumatic tale of a beautiful young girl named Thymaine, played by the enchanting Louise Brooks. She experienced a cruel life when her innocence was torn away and her naivete exposed by the brutality of the demanding world. Throughout the film the dominance and hypocrisy of the male culture was highlighted, but prior to the conclusion Thymaine was able to shame the people that had once shamed her, which provided the film with themes of anti-authoritarianism and hope. The cinematography was arguably more evolved than in other films directed by Pabst, and the acting was second to none. The camerawork consisted of mainly mid-shots and medium close-ups, which placed emphasis on the characters and recorded their interaction with each other. Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen was unquestionably one of the more sensual films of the Expressionist period, which was largely thanks to Louise Brooks, and despite being heavily influenced by Expressionism, it displayed realism unfamiliar to other films encompassing the movement.

Was the above review useful to you?

5 out of 12 people found the following review useful:


Author: Claude Cat from United States
3 August 2004

This slow-paced film is beautifully shot, and enhanced by the luminous presence of Louise Brooks (as Thymian), who makes a perfect cinematic illustration of innocence under attack. But the direction is so heavyhanded that much of the message is dulled.

The chemist who preys upon Thymian is shown to be an evil lout from his first closeup, so it's hard to understand why she would ever talk to him. The reformatory directors are sadistic caricatures, and Thymian's father and stepmother are exaggerated hypocrites.

The father's acting doesn't help, as it consists mainly of standing in symbolic poses. (Irritatingly, Thymian never blames her father for his awful actions, only her stepmother.) These choices make it hard to take much of the story seriously, although probably many of the events related are based on truth.

Thymian herself can be frustrating to watch. Unluckily, and a bit absurdly, she tends to faint whenever she's confronted with a sexual situation. I assume this was the director's way of making sure viewers didn't blame her for her "fall," but perhaps there's a more interesting Freudian explanation. Twenties-fashion fans will enjoy the scenes in the surprisingly benign whorehouse. But unless you're a Louise Brooks fan or a cinematography student, I can't recommend this melodramatic film.

Was the above review useful to you?

0 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

overrated but not to be dismissed

Author: mukava991 from United States
9 April 2007

Twice in DIARY OF A LOST GIRL naive young Thymian (Louise Brooks) is raped after passing out - that is, stone cold unconscious for a lonnnngggg time - while being held in the arms of a man (first while conversing and second on the dance floor after drinking one glass of beer). This is too much! Was it perhaps considered normal in those days for sweet young things to faint dead away while in men's arms? I doubt it - even in D.W. Griffith films. Brooks, a stunner if there ever there was one, looks as if she could chew up these men and spit them out, which she sort of does by the finale. Fritz Rasp, as the first rapist, plays a character similar to his White Russian agent in Pabst's THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY (1927) - a man so repellent that no decent person would want to spend one minute in his presence. German cabaret artist Valeska Gert is memorable as the sadistic headmistress of the kind of reform school we would expect to encounter in "Our Gang" comedies, Oliver Twist dramatizations or Max Fleischer cartoons (the children are forced to lift spoonfuls of gruel to their mouths in time to a beating drum). The camera devours Gert's bald, brutish husband (Andrews Engelmann) at length as he curls his lips into a sickly smile, to make absolutely sure we see what an evil reptile he is. For a film about a "diary," one wishes that the screen time devoted to the heroine's actually writing in it were one tenth as long as villains' closeups.

Was the above review useful to you?

0 out of 3 people found the following review useful:

Mood, mood, mood

Author: bapartin from Broomfield, CO
26 April 2005

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I had never seen a Louise Brooks or Valeska Gert film before. I thought this one was very good. The plot is basic but the atmosphere is what makes this movie--very slow, deliberate, lots of long close-ups, and a pairing of repression and hysteria, all in 1929. The print I saw was mostly a French one; perhaps no complete print now exists? I saw this film as part of a special series, which included a talk afterward. The speaker said that the ending was imposed by the censors--Pabst wanted one in which Thymiane returns to the brothel and takes it over. My favorite scene was the one in the reformatory, in which Valeska Gert bangs the gong.

Was the above review useful to you?

1 out of 5 people found the following review useful:

Glad that I found this diary

Author: WMOLSTAD from Minnesota
20 April 2003

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Wow. I just saw this tonight. The Kino DVD version. Very

excellent. I'm not incredibly bothered by some of the jumpiness

that happened during a scene where Thymian's family gathers. It

sort of adds to the feel. And the jumping is very little compared to

other silents. That scene is really the only one with a constant

problem of it. Now the way that the visual elements were linked together - the

diary and the recurring characters and what they symbolized - that

was very nicely done. This one is a classic of the silent era for me,

right up there with The Passion of Jeanne D'Arc and Pandora's

Box. The movie seemed to have way more of a point then

Pandora's box. It is surprising to me that this film stops halfway through the

screenplay? Is that true? To me the movie is so well concluded,

(SLIGHT SPOILER).............. unlike the oneiric conclusion of Pandora's Box. And there are

some scary looking characters in this movie. The "Madame", the

gruesome looking nun and obedience guy at the reform school,

and by far, the pharmacy clerk - they were all creepy. Well cast. This movie is SO shiny! Louise Brooks looks heavenly. So much

of the hypocrisy in life is showcased with meaning. The irony in

many scenes towards the end as the main character recovers and

grows stronger confronts the conflicts of the first two acts

wonderfully. SEEK THIS FILM OUT! PLEASE! It is lovely.

Was the above review useful to you?

2 out of 7 people found the following review useful:

Intelligent and moving

Author: RoboSlater from Los Angeles
27 May 2003

I saw a pristine print of this film at the Silent Movie theatre located on Fairfax Avenue in West Hollywood, California about a year ago. It was accompanied by a live organist there who is almost old enough to have played during the silent era.

One of the best films I've seen. The acting is superb and I understand the allure of the star. A year later I'm still haunted by her looks and charisma. Powerhouse performances all-around. Mature subject matter.

Was the above review useful to you?

4 out of 11 people found the following review useful:

Louise Brooks is Mesmerizing

Author: Lawrence Cooper ( from Manhattan
18 May 2003

I have never seen an actress radiate as much screen presence as Louise Brooks does in "Diary of a Lost Girl". The brilliance she brings to this role makes this one of the greatest and most poignant silent films...right up there with City Lights and The Scarlet Letter.

Was the above review useful to you?


Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings External reviews
Plot keywords Main details Your user reviews
Your vote history