A mandrake root, a mad scientist, and the most unhinged origin story you've never seen.
It is a variation on the original legend of Alraune in which a Mad Scientist creates a beautiful but demonic child from the forced union between a woman and a Mandrake root. Not to be confused with the 1918 German version of Alraune.
Direction
Curtiz's early expressionist experiments before Hollywood
Costume
Alraune's otherworldly look that haunts stills
Director
Michael Curtiz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This Hungarian version predates the more famous 1918 German Alraune by months, sparking a mini wave of mandrake mania in European cinema.
The film essentially vanished for decades; what survives suggests Curtiz was already experimenting with the shadow-heavy lighting that would define his American noir period.
HU
