Deep Archive Finds Movies That Echo the Spirit of Lumpen und Seide:...

Dir: Richard Oswald

In the third part syphilis is also at the center of the action. This time a landowner falls ill. He proves to be a real fiend, tyrannizes his wife and seduces the daughter of the forester he employs. When the young woman thinks she can't find a way out, she seeks suicide. Finally, the despot also dies and, post mortem, takes his son with him into the misfortune. The latter believes that he too is suffering from syphilis and is soon obsessed with this delusion.

Dir: Richard Oswald

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Der lebende Leichnam perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In ancient, Tsarist Russia. Fyodor Protasov's marriage to his wife Lisa is over. However, the Russian Orthodox Church does not approve of a divorce, and so Protasov fakes his own suicide, before Lisa move in with her lover Viktor Karenin. Fyodor himself becomes a "living corpse".

Dir: Richard Oswald

A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out.

Dir: Richard Oswald

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

A scholar defends prostitution before the World Court.

Dir: Richard Oswald

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

Dir: Richard Oswald

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Richard Oswald

The second syphilis film poses the moral question: namely how far an illness should be considered a human disgrace. The protagonist of this story, a young doctor, believes that only characterless people can contract the disease through reprehensible actions. At a meeting in honor of a venereologist, a violent dispute erupts between the doctor who applies moral categories and a colleague who argues more objectively. Two events make the dogmatic young doctor think: his sister marries a syphilitic who has not yet been completely healed, and he himself falls ill as a result of a kiss from a young woman who also suffers from syphilis. But the doctor is healed and reconsiders his previous attitude.

Dir: Richard Oswald

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

Two male musicians fall in love, but blackmail and scandal makes the affair take a tragic turn.

Dir: Richard Oswald

Paul Mauthner, a painter, has syphilis. A quack who promises a cure cannot help. Paul seduces his brother's wife and infects her with syphilis. While he then flees, the young, infected woman dies of the disease. The daughter born of this liaison, also infected, is admitted to a special clinic and can be cured there.

Dir: Richard Oswald

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.