Alraune

After THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE, Henrik Galeen once again adapted a book by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Published in 1911, the novel Alraune by 1928 had been made into a movie three times. Galeen’s adaptation is still considered the best. He dispenses with particularly speculative elements, focusing instead on the psychological content. Alraune, an artificial woman created by a scientist who has used the semen of a hanged sex killer to impregnate a prostitute, seduces men to commit misdeeds and ruins all those who fall in love with her. When she becomes aware of her origins, she seeks out her unsuspecting creator and beguiles him, too. He falls head over heels for her, putting his entire existence at stake ...
At the height of his art, Galeen is “certainly one of the finest and most talented minds among today’s filmmakers. He has lent the film a special mood, in which the intrusion of the uncanny is only allowed to resonate as a faint feeling [...]” (Lichtbild-Bühne, January 26, 1928) (fw)

Live-Music: Sabrina Hausmann & Mark Pogolski
Inroduction: Stefan Drößler (Filmmuseum München)