Seinen Gegnern ist der legendäre Basler Arzt Paracelsus ein Dorn im Auge. Denn er folgt nicht den Lehren der Fakultäten, er stellt seine ganz persönlichen Theorien von der Heilkunde auf. Er sieht sich als Arzt des Volkes und sein Grundsatz lautet: "Der höchste Grund der Arznei ist die Liebe." Als es Paracelsus gelingt, den von allen Ärzten aufgegebenen Buchhändler Froben zu heilen, ist seine Lehre plötzlich in aller Munde.

Paracelsus, considering when it was made (1943) and under what conditions, is a remarkably interesting film, though full of not especially well disguised propaganda. It's the story of Paracelsus, the 16th-century Swiss healer whose reputation took on a new vogue in Nazi Germany. Nazi writers and intellectuals began to attribute all sorts of Nazi ideals to the mystic healer, who had been ridiculed and oppressed for choosing to write in German instead of Latin and who had challenged the authority and practices of his medieval colleagues.  With the exception of Werner Krauss, the acting is operatic. The screenplay is full of noble opinions about the German character and its ability to triumph over the ignorance of its enemies. The physical production, however, is astonishingly handsome. In addition, the movie contains one of Pabst's most magical scenes, in which Death, in the person of a juggler, enters a town in the midst of a plague and invites the citizens to join him in a celebratory dance.

DVD-R is in German with switchable English subtitles. Approx. 99 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!