A Deutsche Styria Film. English version made by The American Dubbing Co. for Carlton Films. U.S. release through Distributors Corporation of America: 1958. West German release through Gloria: 23 October 1952 (sic). 92 minutes. German title: ALRAUNE. SYNOPSIS: An iconoclastic professor's mysterious but highly attractive daughter has no less than four young men in a spin. NOTES: Fifth remake of the 1911 Hans Heinz Ewers novel. There were three silent versions of which the most famous is the 1928 release with Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener. Miss Helm starred again in the 1930 remake, this time oppposite Albert Bassermann and a somewhat second-string cast rather stagily directed by Richard Oswald (doubtless hampered by the demands of the sound engineer). 11952 seemed an opportunistic time for a full-scale remake, using a top-of-the-range budget and an impressive cast led by Erich von Stroheim (making his first film appearance after his Hollywood comeback role in Sunset Boulevard), Hildegard Knef (then at the height of her fame-she starred in no less than seven films in 1952), and Karlheinz Bohm (later to play the title role in Peeping Tom).COMMENT: Although this film is only at present available in its English-dubbed version, one must admit that the dubbing, for once, is exceptionally good. The principal dubbers even make laudable attempts to imitate both Knef's and Von Stroheim's voices and their methods of delivery. It's also pleasing that Fraulein Knef's songs have been left to speak for themselves in their original German and that Werner Heymann's most appropriate background music has been retained. Rabenalt is not usually thought of as a classy director, but, helped by the atmospheric sets and photography, he has done wonders here. Extremely fast-clipped film editing keeps the plot moving at a breakneck pace for almost every second of its 92 minutes.

I saw this on Amazon Prime under the title UNNATURAL: FRUIT OF EVIL. It's a slow-moving little potboiler in which a scientist manages to create an artificial woman with no sense of morality. Inevitably the woman gets loose in the world and causes calamity due to various men falling in love with her. While there are shades of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in the premise and the film explores some intriguingly muddy moral ground, generally it's cheap and listless, never really sparking when it should. The best thing about it is the cast, including Karl Boehm (later of PEEPING TOM infamy), Hildegard Knef, and the barnstorming Erich von Stroheim.

Brooding scientist Professor ten Brinken (a stern Erich von Stroheim), thrown out of Uni for his blasphemous beliefs, creates a "daughter" (Hildegarde Knef) from the sperm of a double murderer and the egg of a prostitute in his castle laboratory and raises her under the gallows, where the mandrake root grows. It's an experiment in genetic theory but true to the plant's legend, Alraune will bring good fortune just before death and destruction as the movie opens with the girl escaping from a convent and making her father rich when she divines a mineral spring on land he bought. Falling for her cousin (Karlheinz "Peeping Tom" Boehm), Alraune feels something for the first time but luck won't last long and although her "evil" isn't premeditated (much), she's responsible for an attempted suicide, a framing for theft, a fatal accident, a duel, death from exposure, bankruptcy, and public disgrace. The story ends with the inevitable: Alraune, crying tears she never could before, gives up the man she loves lest he be cursed, too, and her "father", who gave her life, takes it away and goes to the gallows in a fitting twist of fate. The film equates artificial insemination with the crimes of Viktor Frankenstein but blames the creator since love is what gives us our souls and Alraune had become human.The German production's a handsomely mounted, atmospheric period piece with an Expressionism the original 1928 silent lacked, especially in the gloomy castle, and some thunder, wind, and rain are there to underscore a point or two. Obviously THE BAD SEED, a hit Broadway play and Hollywod movie about hereditary evil that came out a few years later, wasn't exactly innovative. The dubbed U.S. version, UNNATURAL: THE FRUIT OF EVIL, is missing ten minutes and eliminates any reference to artificial insemination.

ALRAUNE (aka UNNATURAL), is based on the popular Hanns Heinz Ewers novel. This version made in 1952, is the fifth and last version filmed. Many sources state that this film is lost in its English language version, but since the version I saw everyone spoke English, I can assure you they are wrong.This film is unusual, if only for its premise. Erich Von Stroheim plays Ten Brinken, a scientist who has created a women by means of artificial insemination. Ten Brinken used the sperm from a hanged murderer and the egg from a prostitute. Ten Brinken raises the girl (whom he has named Alraune, German for "mandrake") as his daughter, but is convinced because she was created artificially, she will inherit all the unsavory characteristics of her "parents". Only evil will befall all those who may fall in love with her. And tragic circumstances do follow all the men she tries to fall in love with. There is an odd element thrown in which suggests Alraune has supernatural powers. She convinces Ten Brinken to by a worthless parcel of land. She then commands some workers to start digging where they discover a spring whose waters contain healing properties. Ten Brinken and a wealthy woman invest in it but the spring runs dry and Ten Brinken ends up almost financially ruined.Despite the films very adult premise, I could not help thinking that this film has the feel of a film belonging in era much older than the 1950's. The few American critics who reviewed the film when it was released in America in 1957 also noted an old fashioned air fatalism throughout the film. Karl Boehm (later of PEEPING TOM) is convincing as the young man who falls in love with Alraune, despite being aware of her ghastly origin and is the only man Alraune finds true love. Critics said he was to naive and boyish for the part, but I think that was what was right for the role.