Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

jsalsberg The first German film to bear the title ALRAUNE, this movie is a rather conventional ghost story about a woman whose life bears an amazing similarity to that of her ancestor, who was burned as a witch. The ALRAUNE of the title comes from a reference to the mandrake root, which the heroine employs to save her dying child. Aside from that, there is nothing at all to connect this film with the famous Hanns Heinz Ewers novel, upon which historians have mistakenly claimed this film was based. The film was released in the U.S. under the title SACRIFICE, and a print can be found at George Eastman House. The novel was filmed more-or-less straight in 1928 (the classic version, with Paul Wegener and Brigitte Helm), in 1930 (a talky, slow-moving remake, again with Helm), and in 1952 (with Von Stroheim). The other 1918 version, shot in Hungary, is believed to be lost, and may or may not be closer to the Ewers novel than this German film.Jay Salsberg