Alraune  +  The Student of Prague 11/08/25

German Silent Genre Rarities from director Henrik Galeen.  Diving into these 100 year-old silent films was like being back in film school again, excited by ‘new’ film ideas. Henrik Galeen was at the heart of German Expressionism, and this pair of Uber-classics show the style at its best. The Student of Prague is one of the best films ever about selling one’s soul to the Devil; Conrad Veidt’s performance is one for the ages. Alraune is based on a sordid, unhealthy superstition mixing sex and heredity. The amazing Brigitte Helm goes 100% vamp for a tale of a primal female creature also without a soul. Macabre fantasy!  Alraune has some of silent cinema’s best-ever scenes of perverse eroticism … just in Fräulein Helm’s wanton stares. On Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile.
11/08/25