The Mandarin (Austrian, 1918)

The director is Fritz Freisler. The titles are in Italian, but there is a strong German Expressionist bent to both the plot and the cinematography. A young rake, the Baron di Stroong, buys a curious Chinese statuette that turns out to be a diabolical spirit named “Mandarino,” who procures men for the man. When he finally becomes disgusted with himself and with the endless chain of conquests, he tries to dismiss the spirit – but learns that on his own he’s just no good at picking up chicks. This makes him insane, and his story is told in retrospect to an author who is touring an asylum looking for good stories. But what about that asylum director? Doesn’t he look a lot like Mandarino? Could it be . . .

The story is a set of realizations of the very lust for power that underlay the original lust of the young rake. Aristocrat is to conquise as devil is aristocrat and as keeper is to lunatic and as the author is to his character.

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