Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
About Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
The painter Percy shuts himself in with his portrait of Genuine, a high priestess, and falls asleep over stories of her life. In the dream she steps out of the canvas, is bought at a slave market by Lord Melo, and locked under his house. She drives the barber's nephew Florian to cut Melo's throat, then demands Florian kill himself. Percy's infatuation ends when Guyard leads a mob on the house. Percy wakes: he had fallen asleep over a frightening book.
Cast & crew
More about Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
Robert Wiene directed from a script by Carl Mayer, with Willy Hameister photographing and Cesar Klein designing the sets, the same trio as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Erich Pommer produced; Rudolf Meinert is also credited as a producer. The Berlin premiere was September 2, 1920. The German title is Genuine, die Tragödie eines seltsamen Hauses.
Themes
Making
Decla made it as the next Wiene film after Caligari and kept Klein's painted architecture. The complete 88-minute version has not had a home-video release; the 43-minute condensation is the cut in circulation.
Audiences
The film did not do well at the box office.
Look
Willy Hameister, who had shot Caligari, photographed Klein's painted rooms and the staircase Genuine climbs out of the underground chamber.
Preservation
What usually circulates is a 43-minute abridgement of the original 88-minute film. A tinted copy of that cut was included with the 2014 Caligari restoration, and Alpha Video released it on DVD in 2015.
Notes
- Fern Andra plays Genuine. Hans Heinrich von Twardowski plays Florian. Ernst Gronau is Lord Melo. Harald Paulsen is Percy.
- John Gottowt plays Guyard the barber. Louis Brody plays the Malay.
- Genuine is not a blood-drinking vampire. The English release title calls her one; the film treats her as a seductress.
- A tinted 43-minute cut was a supplement on the 2014 restoration of Caligari. Alpha Video issued that abridgement in black and white in 2015.
Scenes
- Genuine leaves the painted canvas while Percy sleeps.
- Florian, shaving the sleeping Melo, cuts his throat at her order.
- Guyard's mob arrives with scythes, and Percy wakes over his book.
Influenced by
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Also available
- Internet Archive (RobertWienesgenuineATaleOfAVampire1920)
- Alpha Video DVD (2015)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari restoration supplement (2014)
