Different From the Others

A landmark film almost lost to history, Different from the Others (1919) is widely considered the first feature-length film aimed at a specifically gay audience made all the more significant for its humanistic depiction of gay men and its explicit plea for the end of their social and legal persecution. Soon-to-be screen legend Conrad Veidt plays Paul Koerner, a celebrated concert violinist who lives under constant fear of blackmail and imprisonment because of Germany’s antigay law, Article 175. When his relationship with a new protégé raises suspicions, all of Koerner’s fears become real. The [UCLA Film & Television] Archive’s restoration is based on an earlier restoration by the Munich Filmmuseum with some new additions including intertitles derived from a German synopsis, censorship records and other sources that bridge missing scenes, including a lecture by [Magnus Hirschfeld,] a “sexologist” who argues, on the basis of biological fact, for the equality and acceptance of homosexuality. Though film still only exists as a fragment, Different from the Others remains a compelling artifact from a fleeting progressive moment in German and cinema history.

Although Different from the Others has been widely recognized as an early gay film, it also holds interest for trans film history. Cross-dressing patrons appear in several bar scenes and sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld presents his ideas about "intermediate sexes" in his lecture. Hirschfeld himself, a co-writer fo the film, considered himself as "sexual intermediary."