...or whenever the hell I get around to it.-
Alraune has to be one of the most lurid movies ever made. Prof. Jakob ten Brinken (Paul Wegener), a prominent geneticist decides to take on the nature versus nurture question head on. Using the semen of a condemned prisoner, he impregnates a prostitute and then raises the child as his own. Played with wanton abandon by silent star Brigette Helm, Alraune ten Brinken is first seen at a convent school where, to put it mildly, she has become a discipline problem for the nuns. Seducing a young admirer, the son of a bank employee, she gets him to rob his father of bank funds so that they can run away together.
-
It doesn't take long for Alraune to find another man to do her bidding, a circus magician who quickly has her preforming as his assistant. Pushed aside, her young admirer, also finds himself working at the circus. A flirtation with the lion tamer also complicates Alruane's existence. The real change in her life comes when Prof. ten Brinken shows up. While his science experiment was entered into as an examination into the nature of human personality, Alraune does bear his last name and is viewed by the rest of the world as his biological daughter. Her behavior at the convent and then her circus career has brought shame on his name.
-
The professor takes Alraune away from the circus. They take up residence at a resort of some kind. With the palm trees in the background, one can guess that it's on the Riviera. There Alraune seems to lead a more moral life. Courted by a Viscomte played by John Loder, she is surprised when the man she believes to be her father refuses the Viscomte permission to marry her. At first she agrees to elope with her love, but while packing, she finds ten Brinken's journal of his experiment. When she discovers that her life is a science experiment, she vows vengeance on the professor. At first she throws herself at every man she sees. If her behavior at the convent and the circus was questionable, her new life of sybaritic and sexual excess, is far worse. When she notices that her father seems to be not just shamed, but jealous, she seduces him. With Jakob ten Brinken under her spell she prepares to leave him behind, and just to make things worse, she walks out after he has lost all of his money in speculative investments. But the professor doesn't' want to let Alraune leave him. Rather she die than be with another man, he grabs a knife and peruses her. It is only the arrival of the professor's nephew, Franz Braun, who in the first scene of the movie hired the prostitute who carried Alraune, and had been summoned by Alraune so that she could know the truth of her birth, not necessarily found in the professor's journal, that prevents her death. Franz stops Jakob ten Brinken from committing murder. In love with Alraune, they leave together, leaving the professor to a life of loneliness and insanity.
-
The version that I've written about is from a DVD purchased on eBay from one of the public domain dealers. This DVD looks to have been mastered from 16 or even 8mm elements pieced together into a single whole. My guess is that it was also a download from the Internet. There are some scratches, speckling, and many of the high lights are blasted out. Still, this is a remarkable movie, quite entertaining and until a better version comes along, well worth what I paid for it. I can't remember the exact price, but it was under $10. There is a fully restored version that has been shown, with German inter-titles in the United States. Should a restored version with English titles ever come on the market, I would recommend it. My feeling from watching this movie is that some scenes may be missing. With so original silent film events preserved, many of the greatest movies made survive, pieced together from elements from many different prints. Directed by Henrik Galeen. Written by Galeen from the novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers.
-
This film is on my great movies blog, www.greatmovieslist.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment