Unheimliche Geschichten
Unheimliche Geschichten ( Uncanny Stories), also known as Grausige Nächte ( Nights of Terror) or Eerie Tales, is a 1919 German silent anthology film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Conrad Veidt, Reinhold Schünzel, and Anita Berber. The film is divided into five segments: "The Apparition" (based on a story by Anselm Heine), "The Hand" (based on a story by Robert Liebmann), "The Black Cat" (based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe), "The Suicide Club" (based on the short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson) and "Der Spuk" ("The Spectre", an original work by Oswald).
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.
More details
author | Richard Oswald Robert Liebmann |
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director | Richard Oswald |
genre | horror |
keywords | black cat card game devil paint secret society spectre want |
producer | Richard Oswald |
productionCompany | Richard Oswald-Film AG |
theme | animals anthology |