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 she 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.
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Alraune, later renamed Unnatural: The Fruit of Evil, is a 1952 black and white West German science fiction film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt, based on the 1911 novel Alraune by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers, starring Hildegard Knef and Erich von Stroheim. The film involves a scientist who creates a woman (Knef) who is beautiful and yet soulless, lacking any sense of morality.
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Alraune is a fictional female character in a novel of the same name by German writer Hanns Heinz Ewers.
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A Woman Branded or Dangers of Love is a 1931 German drama film directed by Eugen Thiele and starring Toni van Eyck, Elsa Bassermann and Hans Stüwe. It was shot at the Terra Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Heinrich Richter.