Abdul the Damned purports to be a British movie, but so many German and Austrian exiles were involved in it that it really counts as a German movie. Even the romantic sub-plot seems to have been lifted from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio.

You may wonder why 1935 people should have been so concerned about backstabbing in 1908 Turkey; it is easy to guess that they were denouncing the bad conditions they had left behind in Europe, thinly disguised in Ottoman gauze.

Fritz Kortner is outstanding in a double role (the Sultan and his double), and some wonderful Schufftan mirror trickery allows you to see both characters simultaneously. Sometimes visible mirrors allow you to see 4 images. Adrienne Ames (noe almost forgotten) is great as a Viennnese operetta singer/dancer caught in a web of intrigue. The European actors do very nicely, but the British actors seem to be leftovers from some cheap pantomime. Hanns Eisler's music is pleasant but falls short of genius.

This is an extremely rare movie, I hope you will appreciate it.