Hand-Picked Alternatives Movies That Echo the Spirit of Homunculus, 1. Teil: Cult Guide

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A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Dance of Death perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In this apparently lost film, a beautiful dancer's sexual allure is used by an evil cripple to entice men to their deaths. Falling in love with one of the potential victims, she is told by the cripple that he will set her free if her lover, actually a murderer himself, survives and escapes a bizarre labyrinthe which runs beneath the cripple's house.

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Suddenly appearing in Florence, an evil seductress causes Cesare, the city's ruler, and his son to both fall madly in love with her. The son, killing his father before an order to torture the woman can be carried out, then turns the city's churches into dens of sexual debauchery. Acts of evil and corruption continue unabated until the arrival of Death, who brings with her a horrible plague which she is about to loose upon the city.

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A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Pest in Florenz perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Richard Ortmann the artificial man (Homunculus) has become the head of the corporation that represents the capital and power of the country, but he has stopped believing in human love. All the more clear is his goal now: the annihilation of mankind.

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A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Homunculus, 4. Teil - Die Rache des Homunculus perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A group of scientists, led by a Professor Ortmann, produce a living human child using scientific processes - a "homunculus." This creature is human in every way, except that he cannot experience love.

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A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

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A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Homunculus, 6. Teil - Das Ende des Homunculus perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

The dancer Lena Schmidt wins ten thousand mark at the lottery. With the money she leaves for a fashionable resort. Lena meets there the penniless painter Gustav Lindner, who is looking for a rich wife.

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Film made in 1919 by the Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung des Mädchenhandels [Society for the Struggle Against White Slavery or Society for the Prevention of Girl Trafficking (the translation can vary)] to inform the public about the trafficking of European girls and their impressment into prostitution (often in South America).

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The owner of the great works seen in the film is afflicted with insomnia, and uses chloroform. His daughter, Eva, loves young Dennison, her father's engineer, much to the chagrin of Briggs, the works' manager. The latter uses every endeavor to belittle Ralph in the eyes of his sweetheart, and is present at the inspection of a huge chimney under course of repair. Eva and her father are also present, and Briggs insinuates that Ralph is afraid, when Eva dissuades him from journeying to the top of the shaft. On the way home, Eva's little brother forms one of the party, and Ralph, ever willing, is prevailed upon to procure a ball of cord for the youngster's kite; also the usual modicum of drugs for Eva's father. Briggs, during the absence of the younger man, forces his attentions on Eva while she is boating with her brother, and is repulsed. He evolves a scheme of revenge, and, at night, goes to the shaft, which he ascends from the inside and removes the top series of steps from its walls. On the following morning Ralph is given a letter warning him against Briggs, and in which Eva entreats him not to trust him. The works' manager is standing near and again taunts Ralph with his fear, with the result that the latter decides to ascend the chimney forthwith. Eva and her father arrive to witness the two men nearing the top of the huge shaft, and the girl's fears are soon realized to the full, for a violent quarrel is seen to be going on between the two, A few seconds later and the pulley block and rope come hurtling through space, Briggs having detached them from the cross bar, thus cutting off communication with the ground below. A terrific struggle follows, and the two men are seen at each other's throats on a perilous footing afforded by the brickwork. The brave workmen are making efforts to scale the interior, but are prevented by Brigg's rascally scheme. Ralph suddenly thinks of the cord for the youngster's kite, and is dropping this down when Briggs overpowers him. At last the villain dozes, tired out from his exertions, and Ralph, taking the drug from his pocket, plentifully dopes him, then throws down a note requesting the boy to fly the kite as soon as daylight permits. At dawn the kite is skillfully raised and we see it near the top of the shaft, where Ralph and the now securely bound Briggs are. The latter does not move, but Dennison is too intent upon the kite to notice him. At last the frail messenger of deliverance is within reach, and Ralph takes the revolver from Briggs' side, firing several shots as a signal. A rope is drawn up, and Ralph is enabled to reach the men who have scaled far up the interior of the chimney. He is assisted to earth and is seen to have turned absolutely gray from his trial. Briggs is found to be dead, having succumbed to the overdose of chloroform, Ralph is charged with manslaughter, but is finally acquitted of the charge, and the last scene shows the lovers free at last from care and delivered from a villain's treachery.