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Movie poster: Tales of Hoffmann (1916)
🎬 Movie

Tales of Hoffmann

1916 · 71 min Fantasy Drama
5.2 / 10 · TMDB

This movie, directed by Richard Oswald, is based on the operetta "Les contes de Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), which is a genial musical potpourri from various short stories and novels by the Prussian writer, composer, painter, lawyer and judge E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). While Hoffmann's literary work was longtime considered to be merely fantastical, it was finally researched, in the last years, according to its metaphysical background. Characteristic for Hoffmann's work is his life-long fight against rationalism and for the revelation of nature morte, culminating mostly in carnival-like scenes anticipating literary techniques only described in the works of Bachtin and Bachelard.

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📋 Film Details

Original Title Hoffmanns Erzählungen
Year 1916
Country Germany
Genre Fantasy, Drama
Director Richard Oswald
Runtime 71 min.
Rating TMDB: 5.2/10 (5 votes)

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🎬 MovieFinder's Take

Richard Oswald constructs this early adaptation as a series of painterly, theatrical tableaux, relying on the visual grammar of early German Expressionism. The film explores Hoffmann's central themes of the doppelgänger, artistic obsession, and the futility of the romantic quest.

What lingers after the final reel is the haunting, carnivalesque atmosphere of a world where automatons breathe and shadows whisper—a poignant testament to creative madness. — MovieFinder Editorial

Director: Richard Oswald

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In dim light, with titling music in the spirit of Offenbach, embracing the silent era's poetic artifice.

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