Salamander (1928): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1928, Salamander is a drama film directed by Grigoriy Roshal, running about 90 minutes.

What it’s about. A Socialist Realist distortion of Dr. Paul Kammerer's experiments in the inheritance of acquired character(istic)s -- the (not entirely anti-Darwinian) conjecture that certain changes the environment produces in an individual may spontaneously appear in the next generation. As recounted in Arthur Koestler's The Case of the Midwife Toad (1971), Kammerer (1880-1926) claimed that darkened footpads he had artificially induced in a toad had been passed on to its offspring. When it was discovered that his critical specimen had been injected with ink (though why and by whom is still unknown), his credibility was destroyed and he apparently suicided. Richard Goldschmidt's synopsis of the film in "Research and Politics," Nature (1949), mocks it as Soviet propaganda in support of the inheritance of acquired characters: The importance attached to the subject is revealed by the facts that none other than the then all-powerful [People's] Commissar for [Public] Education, the highly ...

Who’s in it. Salamander stars Bernhard Goetzke as Professor Zange, Natalya Rozenel as Felicija, Nikolay Khmelyov as Prinz Ruprecht Karlstein and Sergei Komarov as Pater Bsheshinski, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.0/10, Salamander has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Salamander page.

If you liked it. Fans of Salamander tend to enjoy The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindler's List and The Godfather Part II.