ALRAUNE (1928) On Blu-ray From Deaf Crocodile

 

The 1928 German silent ALRAUNE is the beneficiary of a fine restoration and a proper Region A Blu-ray release due to the folks at Deaf Crocodile, as part of their Henrik Galeen set. 

Henrik Galeen was a writer, director, and actor during the Golden Age of German Expressionist cinema in the 1920s, and ALRAUNE is one of his more notable works. Galeen directed the movie and adapted the screenplay from a novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers. 

The story of ALRAUNE deals with Professor ten Brinken (Paul Wegener), who, through artificial insemination between a prostitute and a convicted murderer, creates a female he names "Alraune"--the German word for mandrake. The Professor adopts the girl, and sends her off to be raised in a convent. Alraune (Brigitte Helm) grows into a rebellious troublemaker, and she runs away from the convent to literally join a circus. She also inflames the passions of many men along the way. The Professor tracks her down, and takes her away to Italy, where the two of them live in luxury and comfort. It appears that Alraune will become an upper-class lady, but the jealous Professor refuses to let her marry a handsome nobleman. Alraune finds out about her bizarre background, and she proceeds to seduce the Professor and bring misfortune upon him. 

The novel on which ALRAUNE was based (and which I have not read) was considered one of the most scandalous ever written at the time, and while experts say the film doesn't live up to it, the adaptation is lurid enough as it is. The very idea of the Professor creating his own "being" through the use of such notorious means is rather cringe-inducing. It appears that the Professor is trying to discover if a person's makeup is influenced by heredity or environment, but there's also a strong hint that the middle-aged ten Brinken (who is played by an actor who has the demeanor of a mad scientist) wants Alraune all to himself. 

Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener in the 1928 version of ALRAUNE

One can easily see why the men in this movie would be enraptured by Alraune--Brigitte Helm gives another of her eerily sexy vamp performances. Helm goes from mischievous girl to deadly seductress in a flash, and one never quite knows what her Alraune is going to do next. Helm once again shows off her captivating screen presence--the actress herself wasn't too keen on playing femme fatale roles, but she was brilliant when she did them. 

Due to my fascination with Brigitte Helm, I had watched the 1928 version of ALRAUNE on YouTube a couple times, but the versions available for viewing were in bad condition, and they had a number of scenes missing. Deaf Crocodile's restored version on this Blu-ray is a very sharp looking transfer with proper tinting and intertitles. Even though there is still a sequence missing (which is represented by a still photo and a text description) the Deaf Crocodile version runs about 130 minutes....and yes, there are times when the story drags a bit. When it came to directing, Henrik Galeen was no Fritz Lang. Galeen was more interested in mood and ambiance than in pace or rhythm, and ALRAUNE is at its most striking when Brigitte Helm is in full vamp mode. 

ALRAUNE receives its own disc in Deaf Crocodile's Henrik Galeen set, and the extras on it include a snippet of a German film called DANGEROUS PATHS, which has footage of Henrik Galeen as an actor (from this footage Galeen appears to have been a burly Edward Arnold-type). There is also an interview with Stefan Drossler of the Filmmuseum Munchen, who was instrumental in the restoration of ALRAUNE. The interview is with Deaf Crocodile's Dennis Bartok, and it is in two parts, with an overall running time of over 90 minutes. The first part Drossler spends most of the time talking about his film archival work, and it isn't until the second part that he discusses ALRAUNE and THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE, but not as much as one would think. Drossler does make a rather interesting statement that sometimes silent film restorations are overly good-looking. 

A new audio commentary is included, by silent film expert Jan-Christopher Horak. He gives out plenty of info about the film and the people involved in it, but Horak has a very dry delivery and at times it sounds as if he is reciting from a book report. 

This is a great release from Deaf Crocodile, mainly due to the fact that it gives Brigitte Helm a major showcase of her talents for English-speaking audiences. ALRAUNE will probably be a bit too weird for most, even for silent movie buffs, but Helm is definitely worth watching, and you get the bonus of the Golem himself, Paul Wegener. I'll be writing a blog post on the Deaf Crocodile version of the 1926 THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE in the future.