Max Ruhbeck

Part of the artificial-creature series encompassing Der Golem (1914 and 1920), Alraune (1918, 1928, 1930) and Metropolis (1926), 'Homunculus' was the most popular serial in Germany during World War I even influencing the dress of fashionable Berlin. Foenss, a Danish star, is the perfect creature manufactured in a laboratory by Kuehne. Having discovered his origins, that he has no 'soul' and is incapable of love, he revenges himself on mankind, instigating revolutions and becoming a monstrous but beautiful tyrant, relentlessly pursued by his creator-father who seeks to rectify his mistake.

The homunculus and his companion Edgar Rodin make an invention that would allow the hateful homunculus to destroy the world. But first he wants to find out about love. When he observes how young Anna is rejected by her parents, he takes care of her and asks her parents for forgiveness - without success. He brings her to her seducer, who also rejects the girl. The homunculus then takes revenge by ruining the man financially and throwing Anna at his feet. But she still loves the villain and asks Homunculus for mercy. The homunculus cannot understand this feeling of love - he wants to try it out on himself. He puts a young woman who loves him to the hardest test, but she will do anything for him, sacrificing her fiancé and her parents. Only when he reveals his artificial nature to her, she leaves him. This experience confirms the homunculus in his intention to destroy mankind.

This movie, directed by Richard Oswald, is based on the operetta "Les contes de Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), which is a genial musical potpourri from various short stories and novels by the Prussian writer, composer, painter, lawyer and judge E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). While Hoffmann's literary work was longtime considered to be merely fantastical, it was finally researched, in the last years, according to its metaphysical background. Characteristic for Hoffmann's work is his life-long fight against rationalism and for the revelation of nature morte, culminating mostly in carnival-like scenes anticipating literary techniques only described in the works of Bachtin and Bachelard.

The Game of Love and Death

My Life as a Night Editor

Lepain, der König der Verbrecher - 3. Teil

Lepain, der König der Verbrecher - 4. Teil

Die Königin von Argusana

A silent German film directed by Austrian director Emmerich Hanus with Martha Novelly and Kurt Vespermann in the leads.

A sculptor obsessed with a pianist will stop at nothing to rid himself of any competition for her affections.

Der eiserne Wille

Der Erbe von "Het Steen"

Am Amboß des Glücks

Verlorene Töchter

Der Dämon von Kolno

Raimundus und das Hexlein

Die lachende Seele

Cardinal Richelieu gives the order that the twin brother of France's King Louis XIV should be removed from the court and taken to the country. There he is educated, without knowledge of his true ancestry, and kept as a prisoner.

Das Glück der Frau Beate

An adaptation of the eponymous novella by Jeremias Gotthelf.

A wealthy man is found bludgeoned to death near a railway. The question is, who killed him and why?

Liebe und Leben. 1. Die Seele des Kindes

Liebe und Leben. 2. Die Tochter des Senators

Liebe und Leben. 3. Zwei Welten