ALRAUNE (1928)
Article #476 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 7-4-2002
Posting date: 11-27-2002

A scientist creates an artificial person based on the legend of the mandrake. He ends up falling in love with his own creation, but she has no soul.

This is so far the only version I’ve seen of this story, and it does give an idea how edgy some early cinema can be. Though technically Alraune is not the scientist’s daughter, their relationship does indeed give one pause, especially with Brigitte Helm’s sensuous performance. Paul Wegener is also very good as the scientist, and I found myself very surprised by the ending; though Alraune has sworn revenge for the way she was created, I certainly didn’t expect her revenge to take the form it did. Amazingly, everyone is left alive at the end of this one. Another interesting variation on the Frankenstein story.