Masters of Horror #3 – Henrik Galeen

by Jaime Grijalba.

File #3 – Henrik Galeen

This Austrian-born and German-working filmmaker is one of the most important figures of the birth of what’s been wrongly called german expressionism, and while he did work in some actual expressionism features (like the first Golem film) his shadow casts longer in films that are more akin to what I was talking about last time: german romanticism, since he was also a screenwriter of the epitome of that style in the horror genre: ‘Nosferatu’ (1922), as well as working in the direction of other two horror films that are strongly tied to that style. Hence, he is one of the most important masters of horror even though he didn’t direct more than 3 films inside the genre (one of them lost except for a few fragments), he is a capital figure and has been named so by many sources and scholars, so I couldn’t just ignore him. In a sense we are skipping ahead in years a bit, just because I wanted to tackle this particular filmmaker first. Why? Because we named him in the last week’s installment of the series, on the great actor/director Paul Wegener, and since we were on some sort of ‘german expressionism or not’ conundrum, I guessed that it was better to get this over with, even though he practically doesn’t make the full criteria (at least 4 horror films directed, with at least 3 watchable in some form, and at least Galeen has that last one checked). But hey, let’s just count ‘Nosferatu’ (1922) and the rest of the Golem features (in which he worked as a screenwriter as well) and call it a day, shall we? He surely had a vision of what horror looked like and how it must feel to the audience, let’s give him the credit he deserves, let’s see some of his films!They Might be Few, but sure they are influential

As said, we are repeating one of the movies mentioned in the latest instalment because it was a co-direction with Paul Wegener. So here it is, with aclarations if needed.

· Der Golem (1915) A small fragment survives, co-directed with Paul Wegener
· Der Student von Prag (1926) A remake of the first horror movie ever made, discussed last week
· Alraune (1928)

Best/Scariest Film: Alraune (1928)

This particular film has something visceral and strong about it. It’s certainly one of the most interesting silent features that I’ve had the pleasure to see, and I don’t know (yet) how the earlier or more recent versions of this film work in terms of their plotting and characterization, I think this one did it pretty good, but I don’t have the perspective, so maybe I’ll ramble here and there about certain things but, let me assure you, I’ll watch the rest and I’ll come back with something resembling a final thought, but this one will remain my first impression of the strange story behind the Alraune. The film features our last week’s director, Paul Wegener, in one of his most memorable roles besides the one in the Golem, playing a scientist that has managed to proove a legend right by using Mandrake (the plant that grows under the gallows) to create a human being, using the seed of the hanged man and the womb of a prostitute (pretty gruesome stuff for 1928, right? well, later would come ‘M’ (1931) so this is pretty much the precursor), the woman that is born is named Alraune (Mandrake in the english title cards, eugh), though it is clear from the start that the position of the film is clear, it is not nurture that creates the personality of someone, it is nature (that means, where she comes from, a criminal and a prostitute). Even though she is sent to the best schools and then a convent, she is a naughty little person, she manages to escape and start an endless parade of romances to keep herself away from commitment and her own safety, just to be finally found by her father/scientist and start a sick routine. There are great psychological undertones in this film, particularly in the way that its stated that Wegener is falling in love with its own creation and Alraune knows it, it’s chilling and impressive (even though she doesn’t know her origin yet) how she takes it up front and starts using it against him and for her own benefit. There are many scenes that are frightful and chill-inducing, specially the one regarding bugs and insects, as well as any other instance in which Alraune is confronted with frightful elements just to see that she has indeed no fear of dying nor of the creatures of the nature (including an exciting and impressive scene with lions). Nevertheless, there is some kind of romanticism that prevails over what could’ve been a really raw and nasty movie with the issues of cloning, parenthood, supposed incest and the nature of the evil of man/woman, and that’s because it fails for an ending that is not really original and aims for the reposition of Alraune’s soul in the world of the living and common man, in the most clichéd way possible. It’s a shame, but maybe that’s how the story goes. (****)

And the Rest…

Since ‘Der Golem’ (1915) was already capsule-reviewed last week, there’s only one movie left to review. You can read last week’s entry here.

Der Student von Prag (1926)

A remake of the 1913 Paul Wegener directed film. This one is obviously better since it dettaches itself more and more from what it’s original film ‘static and frontal’ features were. It manages to bring a romanticist look to the whole ‘devil pact’ genre, with a whole punishment created for the one who commited the sin of wanting more that was originally intended for him. It’s a bleak film with certain great mirror imagery, but it still lacks excitement and it sometimes drags quite a bit. The events regarding the ‘double’ of the main character are done poorly in comparison to the 1913 film, as they remain obscure and not distinguishable from the ones made by the main character original version. (***1/2)

Today I learned something

Henrik Galeen may have been influential, but he surely didn’t make many movies (in terms of actually directing them) that would make this particular feature/essay interesting enough. I’m sorry and I shall never ever again choose a director with fewer than 4 horror movies in his curriculum. On Henry Galeen himself, we must say that he surely was one of the bastions of the german romanticism and he managed to create two of the most important creatures to the written word (and then filmed) of all time: the Golem and the Count. That isn’t something anyone can say.

Ranking the Horror

1. Alraune (1928, Henrik Galeen)
2. Der Golem (1915, Henrik Galeen, Paul Wegener)
3. Der Student von Prag (1926, Henrik Galeen)

Next week we have many impossible to get movies from a true german master of horror, who would that be?