During the 1940s in Germany, while films were being still being produced, most of them were German propaganda anti-American films due to World War II. The 1943 film, Paracelsus while made during the war, has the distinction of not being a German propaganda film, which was rare at the time. The film was one of a handful of bigger productions during the Nazi Germany era. The story is about a chapter in the life of Philippus von Hohenheim, mainly known as Paracelsus who lived from 1493 until 1541. He was a swiss physician, alchemist, and scientist, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He was a pioneer of medicine during that era. His theories of medicine were named Paracelsianism.

Directed by G.W. (Georg Wilhelm) Pabst (Diary of a Lost Girl) during The Third Reich, and starring Werner Krauss as Paracelsus, the film has Paracelsus given a difficult task trying to save the German population from the plague. His main antagonist, sceptic is Der Magister (Fritz Rasp, Metropolis) who has a following of disbelievers in Paracelsus and his scientific theories.

Those disbeliefs grow stronger when Johannes, a pupil of Paracelsus kills an ailing elderly male, Froben der Buchdrucker(Rudolf Blümner, M) when he gives him a potion that Paracelsus had made that was followed with every detail to the last drop. Paracelsus is falsely accused of murder and nearly gets killed himself by the angered followers of Der Magister.

Paracelsus is a wonderful, if overlooked classic. G.W. Pabst’s film is stylishly directed with a professional cast of actors who give superb performances. Warner Krauss was excellent in the role of Paracelsus. Many of you might remember his immortal role as Dr Caligari from 1920.

Arriving on Blu-ray from distributor Kino Lorber, Paracelsus gets about as strong as a release as it will most likely get domestically. The video presentation is above average with nice black levels and a balanced grey scale. There is print damage, vertical lines and few other blips along the way but there because of the high contrast levels, the black and white image is bright, showing a great deal of clarity and details to the characters and scenery. I would call it a bit of a revelation that such a rare film from 1943 could look this good!  

The German 2.0 LCPM audio track for most of the picture comes in loud and clear, however, there are a couple of minor issues along the way where the sound dropped but nothing that would spoil the audio experience. The score by Herbert Windt mainly comes in crisp and clear. English subtitles are available.

The lone extra for Paracelsus include an audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighman, who again shares a wealth of knowledge and analysis of the film. She talks about the film in detail, pointing out that Paracelsus was made during the Nazi Germany era, among other information about the cast and crew, particularly G.W. Pabst and Werner Krauss. Her enthusiastic commentary adds another notch to this release.

Another rare classic is now available on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. I think it is a real blessing to have movies like this released on Blu-ray. Hopefully, the label will continue to add similar historical films to their catalog for fans and collectors to enjoy in the months and years to come.  

Paracelsus

Director- Georg Wilheim Pabst

Cast- Werner Krauss, Annelies Reinhold, Mathias Wieman

Country of Origin- Germany

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 6/28/20