Different From the Others (1919)

Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others), 1919
Silent Film Directed by Richard Oswald

Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others) is a gay film from the silent era directed by Richard Oswald and starring Conrad Veidt. Based on the 1903 novel of the same name by Hermann Breuer (published pseudonymously under the name Bill Forster), it tells the story of Paul Körner, a concert violinist, who falls in love with his male student and falls victim to blackmail. Kurt Sivers, the student, upon realizing Körner's feelings flees.

Although the film includes the basic story of the novel, its focus is more targeted on the harmful effects of Paragraph 175 on homosexuals in Germany as well as the evils of blackmail (often leading to suicide). Noted sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld, plays himself in the film and explains both homosexuality and the unjust law.

In 1920, a year after Anders all die Andern was completed, public outcry about the content of films being produced at the time led to the reintroduction of censorship in Germany. It was officially banned and all but one incomplete copy of the film, now held in a film archive in Russia, were destroyed by the Nazis. It is a combination of film and still photographs from the production with extensive intertitling explaining the action in the missing portions. 

Hermann Breuer's novel has been reissued in German as recently as 2009, but unfortunately does not appear to have ever been translated into English.