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A presentation from the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Collection. Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation and the members of Outfest.
Different from the Others (Anders als die Andern) (Germany, 1919)
A landmark film almost lost to history, Different from the Others (1919) is widely considered the first feature-length film aimed at a specifically gay audience made all the more significant for its humanistic depiction of gay men and its explicit plea for the end of their social and legal persecution. Soon-to-be screen legend Conrad Veidt plays Paul Koerner, a celebrated concert violinist who lives under constant fear of blackmail and imprisonment because of Germany’s antigay law, Article 175. When his relationship with a new protégé raises suspicions, all of Koerner’s fears become real. The Archive’s restoration is based on an earlier restoration by the Munich Filmmuseum with some new additions including intertitles derived from a German synopsis, censorship records and other sources that bridge missing scenes, including a lecture by a “sexologist” who argues, on the basis of biological fact, for the equality and acceptance of homosexuality. Though film still only exists as a fragment, Different from the Others remains a compelling artifact from a fleeting progressive moment in German and cinema history.
B&W, silent with English intertitles, 48 min. Director: Richard Oswald. Screenwriter: Magnus Hirschfeld and Richard Oswald. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Leo Connard, Ilse von Tasso-Lind, Alexandra Willegh, Ernst Pittschau, Fritz Schulz.
Musical accompaniment provided by Cliff Retallick.
