Different from the others (1919)

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Movie
Original title Different from the others
Unlike the other Logo 001.svg
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1919
length Fragment: 40 minutes
Rod
Director Richard Oswald
script Richard Oswald and Magnus Hirschfeld
production Richard Oswald-Film GmbH
camera Max Fassbender
occupation

Unlike the others , Richard Oswald made a feature film on the subject of homosexuality from 1919, which was made with the help of Magnus Hirschfeld . It is about a blackmail story with a fatal outcome.

action

The violin virtuoso Paul Körner is blackmailed by the prostitute Franz Bollek. When Körner refuses to pay more and more money to the blackmailer, Bollek reports him for violating Section 175 . In the following legal proceedings, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (who plays himself) a fiery speech for acceptance of and tolerance towards homosexuals. Bollek is convicted of extortion . However, Paul Körner is also convicted: for offenses against § 175. His reputation is ruined. He breaks down in social disgrace and, finding no way out, finally commits suicide . At the end of the film, Hirschfeld gives a fiery lecture for the rights of homosexuals, which is conveyed in the silent film with the help of interludes.

background

Movie poster Different from the others from 1919

The film can be seen as the first ever to openly deal with the issue of homosexuality. It was created at a time when there was no state film censorship in Germany after the “ Council of People's Representatives ” announced in an appeal to the German people on November 12, 1918: “There is no censorship. The theater censorship will be lifted. ”The film, which started with a high number of 40 copies at the time, developed into a scandalous film and, along with other“ moral ”and“ educational films ”, sparked a fierce cultural debate, vehemently from the conservative and reactionary side the reintroduction of censorship was requested. “The opponents concealed their homophobic fears and prejudices under the pretext of protecting minors . What emerged was also anti-Semitism , which is not only in strictly conservative leaves, but also in the gay magazines from the Radszuweit-Verlag Friedrich showed. Hirschfeld and Oswald, both Jews, were accused of promoting the Jewish vice of homosexuality. ”(Information text from the Schwules Museum Berlin, which is dedicating an exhibition to the film on its 100th anniversary.)

After the reintroduction of film censorship by the 1st Reichslichtspielgesetz on May 12, 1920, the film was banned in the same year and the copies destroyed. Magnus Hirschfeld made the documentary Laws of Love in 1927 and used an abridged version of the film Anders als die Andern for the topic of homosexuality . Laws of Love also fell victim to censorship shortly after their publication ; However, a copy made its way to the Ukraine via unknown routes and was subtitled there in the local language. This version was discovered by the Munich City Museum in the late 1970s .

In 1982 the shortened version was loaned as a 16 mm copy from the Munich City Museum for the 1st Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Frankfurt am Main , the Ukrainian subtitles were translated and read in during the screening. The original version of Anders als die Andern has not survived. The film copies were destroyed after the ban. Large parts of the film were thus irrevocably lost. There is now a version restored by the Munich Film Museum, which was initially released as a silent version with German subtitles as a VHS cassette. Since October 2006, a DVD edition of the Munich Film Museum has also been available, which, in addition to the film in German and English and a short documentation of the censorship history, also contains the chapter of the film Laws of Love , from which Anders als die Andern has essentially been reconstructed .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

Commons : Different from the others  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  1. ↑ Hans Scheugl : Sexuality and Neurosis in Film. The cinema myths from Griffith to Warhol (= Heyne-Bücher 7074 Heyne-Sachbuch ). Approved, unabridged paperback edition. Heyne, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-00899-5 , p. 204.
  2. ↑ Different from the others. November 1, 2019 - February 24, 2020. In: Schwules Museum. Retrieved October 2, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Stefan Volk: Scandal Films. Cinematic excitement yesterday and today . 2011, p. 19th ff .
  4. ↑ Stefan Volk: Scandal Films. Cinematic excitement yesterday and today . 2011, p. 25 .