I called "Diary of a Lost Girl" popular entertainment when I saw it recently, and so is this admittedly eccentric spy caper, but unlike Pabst's masterpiece there is zero going on underneath the surface. Its tale of a diabolical counterfeit ring and the lives it ensnares is basically expressionist melodrama, with only incidental nuances to elevate it. I admit I lost a couple minutes to sleep around the one hour mark. Aside from some very memorable closeups, there are only two really outstanding things about it: Siegfried Arno - the dance-lesson guy from Lost Girl without the beard! - in another wacky turn as the master criminal who gets caught out; and one of the stupidest twist endings of all time, where a completely over-the-top, fifteen-minute suspense finale turns out to be 'only a dream'! When that happened I wanted to smash something!!
