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| Author | Hanns Heinz Ewers |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1911 |
Alraune (German for Mandrake ) is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. [1] The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. [2]
The basis of the story of Alraune dates to the Middle Ages in Germany. The humanoid-shaped mandrake root or Mandragora officinarum was widely believed to be produced by the semen of hanged men under the gallows. Alchemists claimed that hanged men ejaculated after their necks were broken and that the earth absorbed their final "strengths". In some versions, it is blood instead of semen. [3] The root itself was used in love philtres and potions while its fruit was supposed to facilitate pregnancy. Witches who "made love" to the mandrake root were said to produce offspring that had no feelings of real love and had no soul.[ citation needed ]
The novel deviates from the myth by concentrating on the issues of artificial insemination and individuality: genetics versus environment. A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.
A number of films and other works are based on or inspired by the novel Alraune.
The year 1918 in film involved some significant events.
Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment for humans, and is a common practice in animal breeding, including dairy cattle and pigs.
Hanns Heinz Ewers was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his trilogy of novels about the adventures of Frank Braun, a character modeled on himself. The best known of these is Alraune (1911).
Brigitte Horney was a German theatre and film actress. Best remembered was her role as Empress Katherine the Great in the 1943 version of the UFA film version of Baron Münchhausen, directed by Josef von Báky, with Hans Albers in the title role.
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Samuel Guy Endore, born Samuel Goldstein and also known as Harry Relis, was an American novelist and screenwriter. During his career he produced a wide array of novels, screenplays, and pamphlets, both published and unpublished. A cult favorite of fans of horror, he is best known for his novel The Werewolf of Paris (1933), which occupies a significant position in werewolf literature, much in the same way that Dracula (1897) does for vampire literature. Endore is also known for his left-wing novel of the Haitian Revolution, Babouk: The Story of A Slave. He was nominated for a screenwriting Oscar for The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), and his novel Methinks the Lady. .. (1946) was the basis for Ben Hecht's screenplay for Whirlpool (1949).
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Alraune is a 1918 Hungarian science fiction horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and Edmund Fritz. It starred Géza Erdélyi. Little is known about this film, and it is believed to be lost. Alraune is German for mandrake. The film is based on the novel Alraune by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers that was published in 1911.
Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne is a 1918 silent science fiction horror film directed by Eugen Illés and Joseph Klein and starring Max Auzinger. The film was produced by Luna-Film and distributed by Natural Film GmbH. The art direction was by Artur Günther. Alraune, die Henkerstochter, genannt die rote Hanne was released in the US under the title Sacrifice.
Alraune is a 1928 German silent science fiction horror film directed by Henrik Galeen and starring Brigitte Helm in which a prostitute is artificially inseminated with the semen of a hanged man. The story is based upon the legend of Alraune. In this version, the blasphemous sexual union causes the progeny to grow to adulthood quickly, behave in a sexually promiscuous fashion and cause the men who fall in love with her nothing but hardship, heartache and financial ruin, if not death.
Alraune is a German science fiction horror film directed by Richard Oswald. Like the 1928 version, this movie again features Brigitte Helm in the role of Alraune. This version aimed for greater realism but is still based upon the original German myth.
Alraune, later renamed Unnatural: The Fruit of Evil, is a 1952 West German horror science fiction film, directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Hildegard Knef and Erich von Stroheim. The film is based on the 1911 novel Alraune by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers. The plot involves a scientist who creates a woman (Knef) who is beautiful yet soulless, lacking any sense of morality.
Anno Dracula: The Bloody Red Baron, or simply The Bloody Red Baron, is a 1995 alternate history/horror novel by British author Kim Newman. It is the second book in the Anno Dracula series and takes place during the Great War, 30 years after the first novel.
Alraune is a fictional female character in a novel of the same name by German writer Hanns Heinz Ewers.
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Die Konsequenz is a 1977 West German made for television film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The screenplay is an adaptation of the 1975 autobiographical novel of the same name by Alexander Ziegler. The film premiered on ARD on 8 November 1977.
The Roaring Fifties is a 1983 West German comedy film directed by Peter Zadek and starring Juraj Kukura, Boy Gobert and Peter Kern. It is based on the novel Hurra, wir leben noch by Johannes Mario Simmel. It is set around the German Wirtschaftswunder economic miracle of the 1950s, with the title alluding to the Roaring Twenties.
City of Beautiful Nonsense is a 1919 British silent film drama directed by Henry Edwards, who also starred in the film with Chrissie White. The film is based on the best-selling 1909 novel of the same name by E. Temple Thurston, and is a tale of a woman intending to marry for financial gain and security, who realises at the last minute that to be true to herself and to have the prospect of a happy future she must instead marry for love. A sound version of the same story was made in 1935 by Adrian Brunel.
A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus Mandragora found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as Bryonia alba or the American mandrake which have similar properties. The plants from which the root is obtained are also called "mandrakes". Mediterranean mandrakes are perennial herbaceous plants with ovate leaves arranged in a rosette, a thick upright root, often branched, and bell-shaped flowers that produce yellow or orange berries. They have been placed in different species by different authors. They are highly variable perennial herbaceous plants with long thick roots and almost no stem. The leaves are borne in a basal rosette, and are variable in size and shape, with a maximum length of 45 cm (18 in). They are usually either elliptical in shape or wider towards the end (obovate), with varying degrees of hairiness.
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