PEOPLE ON SUNDAY (dir. Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, 1930, Germany).

This “film without actors” cast five Berliners who’d never been in front of a camera to play versions of themselves on an ordinary lazy weekend, in the lull between wars. The laidback style feels decades ahead of its time, and it’s especially fascinating to see writer Billy Wilder and cinematographer Fred Zinnemann experimenting with structure and form before coming to the States and becoming legendary directors in their own right.