Mandrake (1930)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mandrake |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Richard Oswald |
| script |
Charlie Roellinghoff , Richard Weisbach |
| production | Richard Oswald |
| music | Bronislau caper |
| camera | Günther Krampf |
| occupation | |
| |
Alraune is a German feature film from 1930 by Richard Oswald with Brigitte Helm in a double role (also title role) and Albert Bassermann as its unscrupulous creator. It is the first sound film version of the horror story “ Alraune. The story of a living being ”by Hanns Heinz Ewers .
action
The story begins with a boozy get-together of corps students from a university town. Privy councilor ten Brinken, who has few scruples, conducts research in the field of artificial insemination , also teaches there . In order to be able to carry out his ethically questionable experiments, he also gets involved with Handel, which are extremely dubious, but bring him the money he needs for the research. So he “organized” a child for the proud sum of one million, which he left to Prince Volkonsky, whose wife had a longing for children. A group of students gathered at his place on Ten Brinken's birthday. Young Frank Braun, ten Brinken's nephew, also belongs to her. When a small mandrake root falls from the wall at the celebration, the professor explains to the studios present on the occasion of his birthday the importance of this plant, the effect of which has been a myth since the Middle Ages. In front of his uncle in the laboratory, Braun raves about the pairing of humans and earth (mother nature), but has no idea that ten Brinken has long been attempting to carry out precisely this crossing.
The professor has persuaded the prostitute Alma to allow herself to be fertilized with the sperm of an executed murderer. Alma gives birth to a child who will look amazingly similar to her as an adult and is appropriately named Mandrake. Alraune grows up as ten Brinken's "niece" in a girls' boarding house and in his house. But the genetic cross from which mandrake originated has only bad things to offer. A pernicious power emanates from the girl, and she becomes a wicked “man-murdering” vamp who draws the admirers hanging on her lips into perdition. Many fall into love madness, and one day old ten Brinken will no longer be able to evade their sirenlike nature. Once mandrake makes the guys crazy (for her), then she pushes them away all the more ruthlessly when you feel like it. It turns out that mandrake has no feelings; she is cold and ruthless. Wolfgang Petersen, the enthusiastic young son of ten Brinken's assistant Dr. Petersen, is also a victim of mandrake - he drowns himself in the princely castle pond - as is ten Brinken himself, who ultimately perishes in his own genetic experiment.
Only Frank Braun, who has returned home after a long period of absence from Africa, where he lived as a farmer, can break the curse: For the first time, mandrake feels something like love for a human being. Soon the drama takes its course: Dr. Petersen accuses mandrakes of being responsible for the death of his son. The police arrested him for the criminal gene experiments. Ten Brinken himself is warned by telephone and wants to leave in good time. He begs Mandrake to accompany him on his escape, but she only pushes him away. Then the police turn up at the privy councilor to arrest him. Ten Brinken makes his will, leaves his inheritance to Mandraune and appoints Frank Braun as her guardian. Then he shoots himself. Princess Volkonsky, who suddenly urgently needs the money that ten Brinken has used for his experiments, goes to Mandrake to ask for it back. But she cannot or does not want to help her, whereupon the princess tells her everything about ten Brinken's human experiments; also that she, mandrake, emerged from these experiments. The administrator of the estate, attorney Manasse, leaves the records to ten Brinkens to Alraune so that she can find out firsthand everything about her true origin. Shocked, Alraune then goes into the water so as not to plunge Frank into ruin too, and kills himself.
Production notes and trivia
Richard Oswald's early sound film version, made in the Ufa studio in Neubabelsberg from the end of September to the end of October 1930 , was released on December 2, 1930 in the Gloria Palast in Berlin .
The buildings were designed and implemented by Franz Schroedter , Hans Sohnle and Otto Erdmann . Felix Günther was the musical director . Helmuth Schreiber was the unit manager.
The fascination of this film material lies in the anticipation of artificial insemination .
Music track
The lyrics were written by Fritz Rotter and Charlie Roellinghoff . The music played by Bronislau Kaper :
- All because of a little girl (student song)
- Come on, kiss me again
- Tired…
- Only tango, only tango
- When men cheat on me , sung by Brigitte Helm
The titles were published by Alrobi-Musikverlag, Berlin.
Further films
- Alraune , Hungary 1918, directed by Mihaly Kertész
- Alraune , Germany 1927, directed by Henrik Galeen
- Alraune , Germany 1952, directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt
Reviews
“The most interesting thing about the new mandrake film is that the same actress is now showing us a completely new mandrake - one that has a fatally evil effect, not in pleasure, but in an unconscious, almost innocent fate. A very correct feeling in and of itself, this initiative to reshape the characters, to neutralize and romanticize the subject, in its never-before-real demon, which is probably no longer bearable today. If this attempt in part achieves the desired effect, it is to be thanked for strong effects emanating from the actor. The fact that it has to remain with partial effects is due to the way the dialogue is conducted, the construction of the game scene, the overload with episodes that are often interesting in themselves. If in Galeen only part of the novel was played out, the stretching seems more difficult because the word, the many words and the direction that does not compress the individual scene puts a heavy strain on the audience's ability to absorb. The scriptwriters (Roellinghoff and Weißbach) do not manage to recreate the atmosphere. "
"In order to find a role for the star, Brigitte Helm was adapted to the next thing: to set the German superlative of the dangerous blonde, the patented cinema eroticism in motion again as Ewersian" mandrake ". (...) The star lays himself in front of the camera in all shimmering seductive poses of the large Brigitten circle, with the innocence of the seventeen-year-olds in between, shows carnal lust, as far as the law allows, makes the biggest undine eyes that animate the screen today, dance and sings that not only her uncle is scary. Helmet as a prostitute, finally as a penitent, demon in the car of death, innocence on the edge of the meadow, in day and night robes, with and without lugging, dressed, undressed, sometimes Garbo, sometimes Marlene - but if the photographer Günther Krampf grasps them correctly, it sits down Originally through, today - with all her flaws, the woman on the screen who attracts, excites, inspires the audience. Its visual appeal is undisputed. This time too. Who will train their language further? The director of this film is not. Oswald is a stand-off point, not a leader, not a talent advocate here. "
“With his sound film version, Oswald and his authors succeed in fundamentally re-profiling a subject that was filmed in 1918 by Mihály Kertész and in 1928 by Henrik Galeen. In contrast to the silent film versions, Oswald interprets the story of the root creature mandrake, which is created at the instigation of an unscrupulous scientist from the artificial fertilization of a prostitute with the semen of an executed murderer, with far more sensitivity for the nuances of psychological entanglement. Balancing rational scientific and irrational superstitions against one another was the core of Oswald's dramaturgical and staging calculations. "
Web links
- Mandrake in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Alraune at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ the premiere date of March 2, 1930, which is often to be read, is incorrect
- ^ Pe in Lichtbild-Bühne No. 289, from December 3, 1930
- ↑ EJ im Film-Kurier No. 285, of December 3, 1930
- ↑ Alraune on film.at