A scientist, Professor Jakob ten Brinken, interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts. The girl, Alraune, suffers from obsessive sexuality and perverse relationships throughout her life. She learns of her unnatural origins and she avenges herself against the professor.
Acting
Brigitte Helm's hypnotic, unreadable stare
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Weimar decadence
Costume
Alraune's wardrobe screams forbidden desire
Director
Richard Oswald
Brigitte Helm
Alraune ten Brinken
Albert Bassermann
Professor ten Brinken
Harald Paulsen
Frank Braun
Adolf E. Licho
Attorney
Agnes Straub
Fürstin Wolkonski
Bernhard Goetzke
Dr. Petersen
Martin Kosleck
Wolfgang Petersen
Käthe Haack
Frau Raspe
Ivan Koval-Samborskyi
Raspe
Liselotte Schaak
Olga Wolkonski
Paul Westermeier
von Walter
Wilhelm Bendow
o. A.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is one of four film adaptations of Hanns Heinz Ewers' 1911 novel, following 1918 and 1928 silent versions and preceding a 1952 remake.
The alraune (mandrake root) myth—growing from hanged men's semen—was believed to scream when pulled from earth, killing the harvester; the film literalizes this as feminine sexual danger.
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