Paracelsus

Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s masterfully rendered, hard-to-find biopic of the revolutionary 16th-century Swiss physician and philosopher--crafted under the Third Reich’s wary auspices--casts Werner Krauss in the title role, and follows Paracelsus’ bitter jousts with the medical and political establishments of Basel in the face of a plague overtaking community and country. Annelies Reinhold, Mathias Wieman, Fritz Rasp, Herbert Hübner also star. 105 min. Standard; Soundtrack: German; Subtitles: English; audio commentary. In German with English subtitles.