''Salamander'' (russian: Саламандра, Salamandra) is a 1928 Soviet-German silent biopic film directed by

Grigori Roshal Grigori Lvovich Roshal (russian: Григорий Львович Рошаль; October 21, 1899 – January 11, 1983) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 26 films between 1926 and 1968. Biography Grigori Roshal was born o ...

and starring

Bernhard Goetzke Bernhard Goetzke (5 June 1884 – 7 October 1964) was a German stage and film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961. Selected filmography * ''Fear'' (1917) * ''The Last Sun Son'' (1919) * ''The Japanese Woman'' (1919) * ''The P ...

, Natalya Rozenel and Nikolay Khmelyov.Christie & Taylor p.440

Plot

The film is based on real events and reveals the tragic episodes from the life of the Austrian biologist scientist-materialist

Paul Kammerer Paul Kammerer (17 August 1880, in Vienna – 23 September 1926, in Puchberg am Schneeberg) was an Austrian biologist who studied and advocated Lamarckism, the theory that organisms may pass to their offspring characteristics acquired in their lif ...

(1880-1926), hunted by regressive scientists and Catholic reactionaries who committed suicide. The film is set in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, which is ruled by clergy and aristocracy, at a time when fascism is starting to emerge, and the working class is forced to live in poverty. Professor Zange is employed here and he is one of the few who sympathizes with the poor. The scientist uses salamanders for his experiments and learns that their inheritance is dependent on external factors. As he makes this discovery he becomes a menace to the existing political system and the clergy conspires with the aristocracy to get rid of him.

Cast

as Professor Zange * Natalya Rozenel as Felicia, his wife *

Nikolay Khmelyov Nikolai Pavlovich Khmelyov russian: Николай Павлович Хмелёв, — 1 November 1945) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, theater director and pedagogue, associated with the Moscow Art Theatre and later the Yermolova ...

as Prince Ruprecht Karlstein, fascist * Sergey Komarov as Pater Brzhezinskiy, jesuit *

Vladimir Fogel Vladimir Pavlovich Fogel (russian: Влади́мир Па́влович Фо́гель; 19029 June 1929) was a Russian silent film actor. Biography Vladimir Fogel was born in Moscow. His family name comes from his German father, an immigrant who ...

as baron-reactionist * Aleksandr Chistyakov as Prayer, pressman *

Mikhail Doller Mikhail Ivanovich Doller (russian: Михаил Иванович Доллер, 1889 – 15 March 1952) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He worked as co-director with Vsevolod Pudovkin and was awarded Stalin Prize twice in 1941. ...

as Filonov, Zange's assistant * Elsa Temary as Bertha, Zange's assistant * Anatoli Lunacharsky

References

Bibliography

* Christie, Ian & Taylor, Richard. ''The Film Factory: Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939''. Routledge, 2012. * ''Bernhard Götzke in Moskau''. In: ''Wochenbericht der Gesellschaft für kulturelle Verbindung der Sowjetunion mit dem Auslande'' 4 (1928), Nr. 32, p. 18 (Short article about a reception in honour of Goetzke in Moscow by the Society for Cultural Relations of the Soviet Union with Foreign Countries on the occasion of the completion of the film "Salamander" with speeches by

Olga Kameneva Olga Davidovna Kameneva (russian: Ольга Давыдовна Каменева, uk, Ольга Давидiвна Каменева; 1883 – 11 September 1941) (née Bronstein — Бронште́йн) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and ...

Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (russian: Анато́лий Васи́льевич Лунача́рский) (born Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov, – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Bolshevik Soviet People ...

, Aleksej A. Sidorov and Goetzke (in German, with 1 photo)).

External links

* 1920s biographical drama films Soviet biographical drama films German biographical drama films Biographical films about scientists Films of the Weimar Republic Soviet silent feature films German silent feature films Films directed by Grigori Roshal Films set in Leipzig German black-and-white films 1928 drama films 1928 films Silent drama films Soviet black-and-white films 1920s German films 1920s Soviet films {{1920s-USSR-film-stub