Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysAPA Heritage MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)

A Daughter of Destiny

Original title: Alraune
  • 19281928
  • 1h 48m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
361
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
  • Drama
  • Fantasy
  • Horror
A scientist interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of lo... Read allA scientist interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts.A scientist interested in the laws of heredity, impregnates a prostitute in a laboratory with the semen of a hanged murderer. The prostitute conceives a female child who has no concept of love, whom the professor adopts.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
361
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Henrik Galeen
  • Writers
    • Hanns Heinz Ewers(novel of the same name)
    • Henrik Galeen
  • Stars
    • Brigitte Helm
    • Paul Wegener
    • Iván Petrovich
Top credits
  • Director
    • Henrik Galeen
  • Writers
    • Hanns Heinz Ewers(novel of the same name)
    • Henrik Galeen
  • Stars
    • Brigitte Helm
    • Paul Wegener
    • Iván Petrovich
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 12User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos17

    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Paul Wegener in Alraune (1928)
    Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm and Iván Petrovich in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm and Hans Trautner in Alraune (1928)
    John Loder in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener in Alraune (1928)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Brigitte Helm
    Brigitte Helm
    • Alraune ten Brinkenas Alraune ten Brinken
    Paul Wegener
    Paul Wegener
    • Prof. Jakob ten Brinkenas Prof. Jakob ten Brinken
    Iván Petrovich
    Iván Petrovich
    • Franz Braunas Franz Braun
    Wolfgang Zilzer
    Wolfgang Zilzer
    • Wölfchenas Wölfchen
    Louis Ralph
    • Der Zauberkünstleras Der Zauberkünstler
    Hans Trautner
    • Der Dompteuras Der Dompteur
    John Loder
    John Loder
    • Der Vicomteas Der Vicomte
    Mia Pankau
    Mia Pankau
    • Die Dirneas Die Dirne
    Valeska Gert
    Valeska Gert
    • Ein Mädchen von der Gasseas Ein Mädchen von der Gasse
    Georg John
    Georg John
    • Der Mörderas Der Mörder
    Alexander Sascha
    • Ein Herr im Coupéas Ein Herr im Coupé
    Heinrich Schroth
    Heinrich Schroth
    • Ein Herr in der Baras Ein Herr in der Bar
    • Director
      • Henrik Galeen
    • Writers
      • Hanns Heinz Ewers(novel of the same name)
      • Henrik Galeen
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

    More like this

    Alraune
    6.2
    Alraune
    Storm Over Asia
    7.0
    Storm Over Asia
    Earth
    7.2
    Earth
    The End of the World
    6.5
    The End of the World
    The Mysterious Island
    6.1
    The Mysterious Island
    Asphalt
    7.4
    Asphalt
    Beggars of Life
    7.5
    Beggars of Life
    A Trip to Jupiter
    6.3
    A Trip to Jupiter
    The Battle in the Clouds
    6.2
    The Battle in the Clouds
    The Electric Hotel
    6.6
    The Electric Hotel
    The Racket
    6.7
    The Racket
    The Vampire and the Ballerina
    5.6
    The Vampire and the Ballerina

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Connections
      Version of Sacrifice (1918)

    User reviews12

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    A clever. artful masterpiece of late german expressionism
    The Austrian filmmaker Henrik Galeen is one of the beacons of the rightly celebrated expressionism of German film in the 10s and 20s, while his name is wrongly known to very few and mostly goes under the weight of the work of directors such as Fritz Lang or Robert Wiene. His work Alraune shows how exceptional Galeen was at what he did.

    Galeen uses the novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers, which anticipated the concept of artificial insemination by decades and addressed it. The director brought the book, and thus the subject, to a wider audience than Ewers' book could.

    A Frankenstein-esque professor (the equally gifted filmmaker Paul Wegener, who later became an opportunist through his association with the fascists of National Socialism) plans to create a woman based on the Alraune myth, i.e. The human-shaped plant that symbolizes misfortune and happiness can bring, especially in relation to childbearing. The professor thinks about the breeding of certain types of people in an anti-humanistic manner and decides, to explain his words, to use "degraded subjects of society" for this experiment. The portrayal of the involuntary nature of the participants, the inhuman view of people and human experiments, the lack of ethics on the part of a scholar or doctor are all anticipations of what would soon doom Germany and then Europe and large parts of the world. The result is Alraune (Brigitte Helm), the first human being to use artificial insemination. She grew up in a convent school, apparently an experiment in the perverted educational-theoretical sense of the neo-humanists, looking for the relationship between genetics, i.e. The predestination of human existence, and socialization, i.e. The influences of the environment on the human individual. Alraune escapes from this experiment and ends up at the circus after her anti-social attitude has already been shown several times. Helm plays Alraune really impressive. She vacillates between the experimental malignancy of the being and the incomprehension of one's own being, which triggers sadness in the main character.

    The professor can finally find Alraune, but Alraune finds out what kind of machinations she came into being and decides, almost according to her nature, but still understandable for everyone, to take revenge on the professor. This requires an understanding of injustice, through which the wonderful dialectic of the film stands out very clearly. Mandrake may be created from the "corrupt", but the basis of her nature lies in the facets of the human. The professor, on the other hand, came about "naturally" but is himself a being who inflicts suffering on other people - and this without the history of the injustice inflicted that Alraune experienced.

    The magical, surreal aspects of the plot now come more and more to the fore through the main character. She seduces the professor and ruins him, especially financially; the human aspect no longer seemed to have played a major role in this blueprint of fascist medicine.

    Ultimately, after completing her revenge, Alraune decides against the predestination of the experiment and proves the will of man as the good of his self-determination. The fact that love is the decisive factor here is part of the history of modern educational sciences, which rightly determined that, for example, parental love or friendly affection play an important role in the good development of a human being.

    In this way, Henrik Galeen packs a fundamentally humanistic statement into an hour-and-a-half film and inspires with the basic characteristics of expressionist filmmaking. Impressive images, surreal confusion, a spider's web of theses and refutations make this film a classic in film history.
    helpful•0
    2
    • patrickfilbeck
    • Feb 4, 2022

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 1928 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Germany
    • Official site
      • ASCinema
    • Languages
      • None
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Mandrágora
    • Production company
      • Ama-Film GmbH
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 48 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Brigitte Helm in Alraune (1928)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Alraune (1928) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The 10 Most Anticipated Marvel and DC Movies
    See the full list
    Image caption not available
    2:14
    The Most Anticipated Movies and Shows to Watch in May
    Watch the video

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.