''Cyanide'' (german: Cyankali) is a 1930 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Hans Tintner and starring

Grete Mosheim Margarete Emma Dorothea "Grete" Mosheim (8 January 1905 – 29 December 1986) was a German film, theatre, and television actress. Early life Mosheim was born in Berlin, Germany on 8 January 1905, the daughter of a Jewish man, Markus Mosheim (18 ...

Nico Turoff Nico Turoff (Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and ...

and Claus Clausen. The film's

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

was by

Franz Schroedter Franz Schroedter (9 May 1897 – 14 November 1968) was a German art director.Giesen p.212 Selected filmography * '' The Black Count'' (1920) * ''The Dance of Love and Happiness'' (1921) * ''The New Paradise'' (1921) * '' The Queen of Whitechapel ...

. The film is adapted from

Friedrich Wolf Friedrich Wolf may refer to: *Friedrich Wolf (writer) (1888–1953), German doctor and writer *Friedrich August Wolf Friedrich August Wolf (; 15 February 1759 – 8 August 1824) was a German classicist and is considered the founder of modern ...

's 1929 play of the same title, which addressed the issue of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. The film is part of the German tradition of Enlightenment films, popular during the Weimar Era. Originally made as a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

, it had elements dialogue and

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

added to the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. It was distributed by the German branch of the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

studio

Fox Film The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

. It premiered on 23 May 1930 on the same day as ''

Westfront 1918 ''Westfront 1918'' is a German war film, set mostly in the trench warfare, trenches of the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I. It was directed in 1930 by G. W. Pabst, from a screenplay by Ladislaus Vajda based on the n ...

''.

Cast

as Hete Fent *

as Paul * Claus Clausen as Max *Herma Ford as Frau Fent *

Margarete Kupfer Margarete Kupfer (born Margarete Kupferschmid; 10 April 1881 – 11 May 1953) was a German actress. Partial filmography * '' The Canned Bride'' (1915) * '' Frau Eva'' (1916) * ''The Queen's Secretary'' (1916) * '' When Four Do the Same'' (1917) ...

as Madame Heye *M. Anderson as Dr. Moeller *

Paul Henckels Paul Henckels (9 September 1885 – 27 May 1967) was a German film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1921 and 1965. Paul Henckels had started his acting career on the stage in the 1900s. He was well known for his e ...

as Dr. Meier *

Louis Ralph Louis Ralph (born Ludwig Josef Musik; 17 August 1878 – September 1952) was an Austrian film actor and director. He was born Ludwig Musik in Graz, Styria, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), and died in Berlin at age 68. Selected filmography * ''D ...

as Hausverwalter * Paul Kemp as Kuckuck * Hermann Vallentin as Kommissar *

Josefine Dora Josefine Dora (born Isidora Emilie Friese; 13 November 1867 – 28 May 1944) was an Austrian stage and film actress. She appeared in over 100 films, generally in supporting roles such as in ''The Virtuous Sinner'' (1931).Prawer p.137 Selected f ...

as Frau Klee *Else Heller as Frau Witt * Alexander Murski as Herr Witt

References

External links

* 1930 drama films Films of the Weimar Republic German drama films Films set in Berlin German films based on plays Films about abortion German black-and-white films 1930s German-language films 1930s German films Films directed by Hans Tintner Fox Film films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub