Unheimliche Geschichten
Encyclopedia
Unheimliche Geschichten (Uncanny Stories) is a 1932
German horror
/black comedy
film directed by the prolific Austria
n film director Richard Oswald
, starring Paul Wegener
, and produced by Gabriel Pascal
.
The story is a merging of Edgar Allan Poe
's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
and The Black Cat
with Robert Louis Stevenson
's The Suicide Club
, producing a black comedy revisiting many of the classic themes of the horror genre.
), set out to track him down. Finally captured by the police, Morder is sent to an insane asylum. Morder then manages to free himself, lock up the guards, and release all the inmates, while he takes charge of the asylum (inspired by Poe's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether). In command of things, Morder turns the institution into a Suicide Club (based on the short story by Stevenson). The climax of the film comes as two members of the Suicide Club fight it out in a wild duel.
The film, which succeeds as it was intended, as a parody of the golden age of German expressionist cinema (in particularly Paul Leni
's Waxworks
), turns out to be a surprisingly good black comedy with lots of tongue in cheek moments, helped by the presence of Wegener, himself the star of two of the genre's high points, The Golem
(1920) and Alraune
(1928), sending himself up. It remains on many short-lists of forgotten classics of German cinema.
. Unlike the 1932 Unheimliche Geschichten this was an anthology film combining five stories framed by a narrative set in a book shop (a technique later used for Leni's Waxworks). Portrait
s of a Strumpet, Death
, and the Devil
come to life and amuse themselves by reading stories--about themselves, of course, in various guises and eras. The stories used were: The Black Cat; The Suicide Club; Anselme Heine's Die Erscheinung; co-scripter Robert Liebmann's Die Hand; and Oswald's own Der Spuk.
It was considered a lost film. However, surviving prints of the film were edited together in Europe and shown as a whole feature at the annual Luminato
arts festival in Toronto
in June 2009.
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
German horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film directed by the prolific Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n film director Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald was an Austrian director, producer, and screenwriter.Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began his career as an actor on the Viennese stage. He made his film directorial debut at age 34 with Das Eiserne Kreuz...
, starring Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener
Paul Wegener was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.-Stage and early film career:...
, and produced by Gabriel Pascal
Gabriel Pascal
Gabriel Pascal was a Hungarian film producer and director.Born 1894 in Arad, Austria-Hungary , Pascal was the first film producer to bring the plays of George Bernard Shaw successfully to the screen. His most famous production was Pygmalion, for which Pascal himself received an Academy Award...
.
The story is a merging of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a comedic short story written by American author Edgar Allan Poe.-Plot summary:The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the...
and The Black Cat
The Black Cat (short story)
"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"...
with Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's The Suicide Club
The Suicide Club (Stevenson)
The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson that combine to form a single narrative...
, producing a black comedy revisiting many of the classic themes of the horror genre.
Plot
A crazed scientist, Morder (Paul Wegener), driven even crazier by his nagging wife, murders her and walls her up in a basement, a la Poe's The Black Cat. He then flees as the police and a reporter, Briggs (Harald PaulsenHarald Paulsen
Harald Paulsen was a German actor. He appeared in 125 films between 1920 and 1954.He was born in Elmshorn, Germany and died in Hamburg.-Selected filmography:* Desires * Die Tödlichen Träume...
), set out to track him down. Finally captured by the police, Morder is sent to an insane asylum. Morder then manages to free himself, lock up the guards, and release all the inmates, while he takes charge of the asylum (inspired by Poe's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether). In command of things, Morder turns the institution into a Suicide Club (based on the short story by Stevenson). The climax of the film comes as two members of the Suicide Club fight it out in a wild duel.
The film, which succeeds as it was intended, as a parody of the golden age of German expressionist cinema (in particularly Paul Leni
Paul Leni
Paul Leni born Paul Josef Levi was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionist filmmaking, making Backstairs and Waxworks in Germany, and The Cat and the Canary , The Chinese Parrot , The Man Who Laughs , and The Last Warning in...
's Waxworks
Waxworks (film)
Waxworks is a 1924 fantasy/horror silent film directed by Paul Leni. The film is about a writer who accepts a job from a waxworks proprietor to write a series of stories about the exhibits of Caliph of Baghdad , Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper in order to boost business.Although...
), turns out to be a surprisingly good black comedy with lots of tongue in cheek moments, helped by the presence of Wegener, himself the star of two of the genre's high points, The Golem
The Golem (1915 film)
Der Golem is a 1915 silent horror film written and directed by Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen. The film is an original work inspired by ancient Jewish legend. It is a long lost film...
(1920) and Alraune
Alraune
Alraune is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character.-Legend:...
(1928), sending himself up. It remains on many short-lists of forgotten classics of German cinema.
Cast
- Paul WegenerPaul WegenerPaul Wegener was a German actor, writer and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema.-Stage and early film career:...
- Maria KoppenhöferMaria Koppenhöfer-Selected filmography:* Unheimliche Geschichten * Joan of Arc * The Mountain Calls * Kora Terry * Bismarck * The Heart of a Queen -External links:...
- Blandine EbingerBlandine EbingerBlandine Ebinger was a German actress and chansonniere, the daughter of the pianist Gustav Loeser and the actress Margarete Wezel...
- Eugen Klöpfer
- Harald PaulsenHarald PaulsenHarald Paulsen was a German actor. He appeared in 125 films between 1920 and 1954.He was born in Elmshorn, Germany and died in Hamburg.-Selected filmography:* Desires * Die Tödlichen Träume...
- Roma Bahn
- Mary ParkerMary ParkerFor other articles about people named Mary Parker, see Mary Parker Mary Parker of Andover, Mass., was executed September 22, 1692, with several others, for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials. She was 55 years old and a widow. Mary's husband, Nathan, died in 1685...
- Paul HenckelsPaul HenckelsPaul Henckels was a German film actor. He appeared in over 230 films between 1921 and 1965.-Selected filmography:* Sex in Chains * Skandal um Eva * Dreyfus * The Sorceror...
- Gerhard Bienert
- John GottowtJohn GottowtJohn Gottowt was a German actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies.He was born as Isidor Gesang in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary. After his education in Vienna, he joined the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1905, working for Max Reinhardt as an actor and director...
- Erwin Kalser
- Franz Stein
- Gretel Berndt
- Ilse Fürstenberg
- Carl Heinz Charrell
Worldwide Releases
The film is also known by numerous other titles including Fünf unheimliche Geschichten (Germany), Five Sinister Stories (International: English title), Ghastly Tales (USA), Tales of the Uncanny, The Living Dead (USA), and Unholy Tales (International: English title). The film was later re-edited for an American market release known as "The Living Dead" in 1940, with many of the comedic scenes taken out.Unheimliche Geschichten (1919)
There is a silent horror film of the same name directed and produced by Oswald, featuring Conrad VeidtConrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
. Unlike the 1932 Unheimliche Geschichten this was an anthology film combining five stories framed by a narrative set in a book shop (a technique later used for Leni's Waxworks). Portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
s of a Strumpet, Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
, and the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
come to life and amuse themselves by reading stories--about themselves, of course, in various guises and eras. The stories used were: The Black Cat; The Suicide Club; Anselme Heine's Die Erscheinung; co-scripter Robert Liebmann's Die Hand; and Oswald's own Der Spuk.
It was considered a lost film. However, surviving prints of the film were edited together in Europe and shown as a whole feature at the annual Luminato
Luminato
Luminato - Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, is a publicly-attended, multi-disciplinary arts festival held annually for 10 days each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
arts festival in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in June 2009.
Trivia
- This was Paul Wegener's first talking movie.
- Three of Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's anthology books are published in German under the subtitle Unheimliche Geschichten.