Different from the Others (1919)

Richard Oswald and Magnus Hirschfeld’s 1919 silent classic DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS (Anders als die Andern) is thought to be the first gay feature-length film - it’s also one of the earliest films to depict homosexuality in a positive way.

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS

(Anders als die Andern)

1919 | Germany

Director: Richard Oswald

Writers: Richard Oswald & Magnus Hirschfeld

Starring: Conrad Veidt, Fritz Schulz, Reinhold Schünzel, Anita Berber, Magnus Hirschfeld & Karl Giese

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS is a German silent film from 1919; it is thought to be the first feature film about homosexuality. It was created in response to Germany’s anti-gay laws, specifically Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexual acts between men (It was active in 1871 and not fully abolished until 1994). It follows a violinist (Conrad Veidt) who begins a same-sex relationship but is soon after blackmailed by another man who threatens to out him publicly.

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS was created during Germany’s Weimar era and was able to attain a theatrical release with 40 prints in distribution due to Germany’s relaxed censorship laws – though, this only lasted about a year - censors banned the film in 1920 for reasons centered on public safety/impressionable young minds (some things never change).

The film was directed by Richard Oswald and co-written by sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay Jewish doctor who also appears in the film as a psychiatrist – and states the line featured in the linked video montage above. Hirschfeld was an early queer activist and scholar, devoting much of his life to understanding and helping queer and trans people. Most of his research, including the missing pieces of this film, were destroyed by the Nazis when they raided his Institute for Sexual Science and burned the contents of its library in May of 1933.

The version of the film we see today was reconstructed from a documentary created by Hirschfeld in 1927, which used a shortened version of DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS to discuss homosexuality. This documentary, LAWS OF LOVE (Gesetze der Liebe), managed to avoid destruction because it was located in the Ukraine and wasn’t found until the 1970s.

The film was later restored by the Munich Filmmuseum, and then further restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive who, through additional research, were able to extend the film with additional imagery and context.

You can find the reconstructed version of the film streaming on YouTube, it’s also available on DVD.