Episode 4 - Homunculus Say What?

Homunculus was originally a series of six films based on an epic poem of the same name written by Robert Hamerling in 1888, created by the German studio Deutsche Bioscop GmbH. Each film was approximately an hour long, and they were released in 1916 (except for part 6, which came out in 1917). The original episode titles were:

1. Die Geburt des Homunculus (The Birth of the Homunculus)

2. Das geheimnisvolle Buch (The Mysterious Book)

3. Die Liebestragödie des Homunculus (The Love Tragedy of the Homunculus)

4. Die Rache des Homunculus (The Revenge of the Homunculus)

5. Die Vernichtung der Menschheit (The Annihilation of Mankind)

6. Das Ende des Homunculus (The End of the Homunculus)

Although the serial was very popular in Berlin, the only remaining copies of the original films are part 4 and a fragment of part 5.

However, the story of the film doesn’t end there. In spring 1920, Deutsche Bioscop merged with Decla-Film to form Decla-Bioscop, and the new amalgamated studio edited the six films down to three and released the new version with colored tints and intertitles in September 1920. The titles of the shorter version were:

1. Der künstliche Mensch (The Artificial Man)

2. Die Vernichtung der Menschheit (The Annihilation of Mankind)

3. Ein Titanenkampf (A Titanic Fight)

The easiest version to find online is an even more heavily edited 76-minute tinted version with Italian language intertitles, which was found in the George Eastman Museum film archives. This is the version we’ve linked to on YouTube.