Paracelsus (1943)

Directed by: G. W. Pabst

Written by: Kurt Heuser

Based on: “Der König der Ärzte“ by Pert Peternel

Produced by: Fred Lyssa for Bavaria Filmkunst GmbH

Cinematography: Bruno Stephan

Edited by: Lena Neumann

Music by: Herbert Windt

Production company: Bavaria Film

Distributed by: Deutsche Filmvertriebe

Release date: 12 March 1943

Running time: 104 minutes

Country: Germany

Language: German

 

Starring:

 

Werner Krauss: Paracelsus

Annelies Reinhold: Renata Pfefferkorn

Harry Langewisch: Pfefferkorn

Mathias Wieman: Ulrich von Hutten

Fritz Rasp: Magister

Peter Martin Urtel: Johannes (as Martin Urtel)

Herbert Hübner: Count von Hohenreid

Josef Sieber: Bilse, Paracelsus’ servant

Rudolf Blümner: Froben

Harald Kreutzberg: Fliegenbein

Hilde Sessak: Waitress

Franz Schafheitlin: Erasmus von Rotterdam

Victor Janson: Mayor

Karl Skraup: Surgeon

Erich Dunskus: Innkeeper

 

Paracelsus is a 1943 German drama film directed by G. W. Pabst, based on the life of the 16th-century physician Paracelsus.

 

Plot

 

Central Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. The Basel physician Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus, who was traveling through the country, stopped in a free imperial city. His healing methods, precursors of holistic medicine, were viewed with suspicion by his medical colleagues and were a thorn in their side. Unlike them, for whom the medical teachings of the faculties are sacred and irrefutable law, he develops his own theories in medicine based on practical experience, research, and findings. For him, the human being as a whole is at the forefront of his observations and analyses, and with his resulting treatment methods, Paracelsus has achieved remarkable success in the late Middle Ages.

 

When he succeeds in healing the bookseller Froben, who had been given up by all doctors, his teachings are on everyone’s lips. The people respect and appreciate him, and accordingly, the number of his enemies among conventionally practicing physicians rises rapidly. Among them is the merchant Pfefferkorn: he resents Paracelsus for closing the city gates to prevent the impending arrival of the plague. Envy and resentment towards Paracelsus grow stronger and stronger, and his powerful opponents accuse him of charlatanism. Above all, the previously leading physician of the imperial city, the Magister, who had just wanted to amputate poor Froben’s leg before Paracelsus intervened and saved him from the backward quack, matures into his worst enemy. For after this success, Paracelsus has replaced the Magister in his position.

 

It is therefore very convenient for his opponents that Paracelsus’ closest colleague, the ambitious famulus Johannes, uses one of his teacher’s untested elixirs in an unauthorized attempt to cure a patient without Paracelsus’ knowledge. Froben, who is treated with the elixir, falls ill again and dies as a result. Paracelsus’ opponents now see their chance to get rid of their hated colleague once and for all. They have the innocent doctor imprisoned, even though Paracelsus has long been regarded as a savior by the common people, the townspeople. With the help of the juggler Fliegenbein, one of Paracelsus’ successfully treated patients, the misunderstood doctor is able to escape from prison. Paracelsus goes back on his travels and, living in complete modesty, continues to heal the sick people he encounters on his journeys. Paracelsus even turns down an offer from the emperor to become his personal physician at court. From now on, he wants to serve only the common people.