When doctors fail to cure the young and beautiful Claire Raven, who for inexplicable reasons seems to have fallen under a spell, Professor Mors, an expert in the field of hypnosis, is called in to help. No one knows, however, that Claire was only hypnotised by Weller, an assistant of Mors, after meeting him at a recent charity ball. Mors then makes the young woman so pliable that she agrees to dissolve her secret engagement to Rolf Woerner and marry Mors instead. Jack Weller has also fallen in love with the young woman, however, and a bitter struggle ensues for Claire’s will. Ultimately, Mors wins the struggle. In the end, Claire's parents refuse to consent to the marriage due to their disapproval of the decadent lifestyle Mors’ mother has embraced. Claire returns to her former love. On the evening before her wedding, however, Mors sends her into a dream state once more. He first sends Claire to Weller, who rapes her, and then gives a letter to a notary public to inform Claire after the birth of her first child. When Claire receives the letter, she goes mad, and grabs a dagger to kill Weller. Someone beat her to it, however. When she collapses next to the body, she pulls a lamp to the ground, and perishes in the ensuing flames.
Screenplay: Carl Schneider.
Director of Photography: Joe Rive.
Set Design: Willi A. Herrmann.
Cast: Gustav Birkholz (Senator Holbein), Gertrud de Lalsky (Raven, Councellor of Commerce), Karl Halden (Wolff Woerner, factory owner), Jenny Höhne (Frau Moran), Rudolf Klein-Rohden (Jack Weller), Marga Köhler (Mrs. Steffens, his mother), Bela Lugosi (Professor Mors), Violette Napierska [aka Violetta Napierska] (Eva Hain, his daughter), Lee Parry (Claire, her daughter), Emil Rameau (Peter Hain).
Production Company: Eichberg-Film GmbH, Berlin, for Central-Film-Vertriebs GmbH, Berlin.
Producer: Richard Eichberg.
Length: 6 acts, 1945 m; after censorship 1921: 1978 m.
Format: 35 mm, 1:1.33.
Picture/Sound: b/w, silent.
Censorship Details: Dec 1919, BZ.43667, ban for young people; 28 Jan 1921, B.01178, ban for young people.
Première: 3 Jan 1920, Berlin (Schauburg).
