Alraune | |
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Directed by | Richard Oswald |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Alraune by Hanns Heinz Ewers [1] |
Produced by | Richard Oswald [1] |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Günther Krampf [1] |
Music by | Bronislau Kaper [1] |
Production company | Richard Oswald-Produktion GmbH [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes [1] |
Country | Germany [1] |
Alraune is a German science fiction horror film directed by Richard Oswald. [1] 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.
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 avenges herself against the professor.
Alraune was first shown in Germany at the Gloria-Palast theatre on 2 December 1930. [1]
From contemporary reviews, The New York Times described the film in 1934 as a "highly interesting production… Brigitte Helm, the versatile German actress, is the centre of the story… Her work is up to the high standard she has established in several foreign language pictures that have reached New York. Albert Bassermann, one of Germany's best veteran actors, is excellent as the scientist whose efforts to emulate the wonder-workers of the ancient days bring so much trouble upon nearly all involved in the affair, regardless of their innocence or guilt. The support is first class… Although this picture was made almost four years ago, the sound reproduction and photography are clear. The direction is competent." [2] "Magnus." of Variety dismissed the film as being "very low level and involves ghastly ideas by Hanns Heinz Ewers, the picture is bad and silly." [3] Magnus. Felt that actors Agnes Straub and Alebrt Bassermann were "not well handled in this instance" and that director Oswald "is so inferior in his direction that good actors are wasted." [3]
Madame Curie is a 1943 American biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin from a screenplay by Paul Osborn, Paul H. Rameau, and Aldous Huxley (uncredited), adapted from the biography by Ève Curie. It stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, with supporting performances by Robert Walker, Henry Travers, and Albert Bassermann.
Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double named Futura, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film, Metropolis.
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).
Alraune is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald.
Paul Wegener was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.
Richard Oswald was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald.
Unheimliche Geschichten, titled The Living Dead in English, is a 1932 German comedy horror film, directed by the film director Richard Oswald, starring Paul Wegener, and produced by Gabriel Pascal. It is a remake of Oswald's 1919 film of the same name.
Iván Petrovich was a Serbian film actor and singer.
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, 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.
Albert Bassermann was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Schiff with whom he frequently performed.
The MV Savarona is the presidential yacht of the Republic of Turkey. She was the largest in the world when launched February 28, 1931, and remains, with a length of 136 m (446 ft), one of the world’s longest. Although owned by the Government of Turkey, she had been leased out to Turkish businessman Kahraman Sadıkoğlu. However, upon orders of the Turkish Government her lease was terminated and she reverted to the Turkish State. The first time she was used again for an official reception was in March 2015.
Alraune is a fictional female character in a novel of the same name by German writer Hanns Heinz Ewers.
Harald Paulsen was a German stage and film actor and director. He appeared in 125 films between 1920 and 1954.
Gold is a 1934 German science fiction film directed by Karl Hartl. The film involves a British scientist who is attempting to create a device that turns base materials into gold. He later forces the German scientist's assistant Werner Holk, who was working on a similar experiment, to come to his underwater nuclear reactor to help him. Gold was made in both German-language and French-language versions with Brigitte Helm reprising her role in both.
Agnes Josephine Straub was a German film actress.
Lucrezia Borgia is a 1922 German silent historical film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Conrad Veidt, Liane Haid, Paul Wegener, and Albert Bassermann. It was based on a novel by Harry Sheff, and portrayed the life of the Renaissance Italian aristocrat Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519). Botho Hoefer and Robert Neppach worked as the film's art directors, designing the period sets needed. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. Karl Freund was one of the cinematographers. Famed French director Abel Gance remade the film in 1935.
Inquest is a 1931 German crime film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Albert Bassermann, Gustav Fröhlich and Hans Brausewetter. Along with another film that Siodmak made the same year Storms of Passion, it anticipates the later development of film noir. It was made by German's largest studio Universum Film, with sets designed by art director Erich Kettelhut. Paul Martin, who soon after emerged as a leading director, was assistant director to Siodmak on the film. It was based on a 1927 play of the same title by Max Alsberg and Ernst Hesse. A separate French-language version About an Inquest was also produced.