''Unheimliche Geschichten'' ( ''Uncanny Stories''), titled ''Eerie Tales'' in English, is a 1919 German silent

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

directed by

Richard Oswald Richard Oswald (5 November 1880 – 11 September 1963) was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald. Early career Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began h ...

and starring

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...

. The film is split into five stories: ''The Apparition'', ''The Hand'', ''The Black Cat'' (based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story), ''The Suicide Club'' (based on the Robert Louis Stevenson short story) and ''Der Spuk'' (''The Spectre''). A

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

, also directed by Oswald, was released in 1932.

Plot

At midnight in a closed antiquarian bookshop, three figures – Death, the Devil and the Harlot – step out of paintings and read five macabre stories. The first story is ''The Apparition'', about a man (Veidt) and a woman (Berber) who check into a hotel. When the woman vanishes, everyone there denies she ever existed. It is later revealed that she died of the plague and the hotel management wanted to cover it up. The second story is called ''The Hand'', about two men (Veidt and Schunzel) who compete over a woman they desire. The loser kills his opponent, which leads to the victim's ghostly hand avenging itself on his murderer. The third story is ''The Black Cat'', about a drunk (Schunzel) who murders his wife (Berber) and walls up her body in his cellar. The family cat reveals his murderous secret to the police. The fourth story is ''The Suicide Club'', about a detective who discovers a secret society only to be chosen as their next victim via a card game. The final story called ''The Spectre'' is about a braggart baron (Veidt) who encourages his wife (Berber) to have an affair with a total stranger. With the completion of the fifth tale, the clock in the shop strikes one and the three ghostly storytellers retreat back into their paintings.

Cast

Anita Berber Anita Berber (10 June 1899 – 10 November 1928) was a German dancer, actress, and writer who was the subject of an Otto Dix painting. She lived during the time of the Weimar Republic. Early life Born in Leipzig to Felix Berber, First Violinist ...

as Harlot *

Reinhold Schünzel Reinhold Schünzel (7 November 1888 – 11 November 1954) was a German actor and director, active in both Germany and the United States. The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, he was born in St. Pauli, the poorest part of Hamburg. Despite ...

as the Devil *

as Death *

Hugo Döblin Hugo Döblin (29 October 1876 – 4 November 1960) was a German stage and film actor.Hardt p.233 He appeared in more than eighty films, most of them during the silent era. The Jewish Döblin left Germany following the Nazi Party's rise to power in ...

* Paul Morgan *

Georg John Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor. Early life Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany. Career John began his ...

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 ...

Production

''Unheimliche Geschichten'' was directed, produced and co-written by

. The film stars

and

as the Harlot, the Devil and Death in the opening sequence, but they also play various other roles in each of the five stories. Each story was based on an author's work, including Anselm Heine (''The Apparition'', 1912),

Robert Liebmann Robert Liebmann (5 June 1890 - July 1945) was a German screenwriter. Selected filmography * '' The Uncanny House'' (1916) * '' Prostitution'' (1919) * '' The Duty to Live'' (1919) * '' Die Arche'' (1919) * '' The Count of Cagliostro'' (1920) * ' ...

(''The Hand''),

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

('' The Black Cat'', 1843),

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

(" The Suicide Club", 1878) and Richard Oswald's own contribution (''Der Spuk''/ ''The Spectre'').

Release

''Unheimliche Geschichten'' was first shown in Berlin on November 5, 1919. In the book ''Directory of World Cinema: Germany, Volume 10'' Katharina Loew described the film as the "critical link between the more conventional German mystery and detective films of the mid 1910s and the groundbreaking fantastic cinema of the early 1920s". The film is sometimes referred to in reference works as ''Weird Tales'', ''Eerie Tales'', ''Five Sinister Stories'' or ''Tales of the Uncanny''.

Reception

From contemporary reviews in Germany, the ''

Berliner Tageblatt The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the '' Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time. History The ''Berlin ...

'' praised the acting of

, the lighting and that the film was effective without having a cast of thousands. The review commented that the pace of the film did stagger at times. '' Der Kinematograph'', also praised Veidt and Oswalds' mastery of film. From retrospective reviews, Loew has stated that the film did not age well, specifically pointing out the acting which would strike "today's viewers as rather labored." Loew also critiqued the interiors of the film as "unconvincing and ramshackle" and the episodes of the film were uneven. Troy Howarth comments "The film set something of a standard for subsequent German anthologies, including Fritz Lang's ''Destiny'' and Paul Leni's ''Waxworks''.....its tone vacilates clumsily between the macabre and the farcical....". He also comments there are too many stories occupying the running time, saying "its abundance of stories and lack of screen time ultimately work against each other.....Only Conrad Veidt makes much of an impression. He constantly rises above the mediocre quality of the rest of the picture."

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * {{The Black Cat German silent feature films 1919 horror films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Richard Oswald Films based on The Black Cat Films based on works by Robert Louis Stevenson German horror anthology films German black-and-white films Films based on multiple works Films about animals Films about cats Silent horror films 1910s German films 1910s German-language films