Different from the Others

Paul Körner, a famous violinist, grows close to his student Kurt. A man learns of it and begins blackmailing him. Körner agrees to pay, but the money does not last and the pressure grows. In the end he decides to report the blackmailer; but Paragraph 175 of the German penal code makes homosexuality a crime, so in reporting it he will be prosecuted himself. The court convicts them both. Richard Oswald's film is one of the first works to portray homosexuality with sympathy. He wrote it with the sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who appears in the film as himself and argues directly for the repeal of Paragraph 175. The film was banned on 18 August 1920 and its prints were destroyed. Only fragments survive today; the full content is known from texts published at the time. Conrad Veidt plays Körner. Who it's for: Anyone curious about silent cinema, queer film history, and the Weimar period. Who it's not for: The film does not exist whole; what is watched is assembled from fragments and intertitles. The narrative is also openly propagandist.