Algol: Tragedy of Power

Hans Werckmeister, Deutsche Lichtbild-Gesellschaft, 1920. Emil Jannings as Robert Herne, a coal miner given a machine from the star Algol that yields endless energy. He climbs from pit to industrial throne, then watches the gift isolate him from the people who still have to live under it. Silent, German titles, about ninety-nine minutes. Werckmeister shoots the machine as architecture, not magic: a box that turns a worker into a proprietor. Foreign production; US-expired file, source-country term not cleared.