A rarely shown but truly remarkable example of psychology in the silent cinema, Warning Shadows (translation title, Shadows-A Nocturnal Hallucination) is a tale, told virtually without intertitles, of characters and their shadow and mirror images. Introductory scenes set the stage, with the volcanic fuming of a jealous count (Fritz Körtner), the machinations of his flirtatious wife (Ruth Weyher), and the desires of her four potential lovers. All these elements are literally projected when a passing shadow player (Alexander Granach), with hypnotic talents and an astute psychological sense, uses them as material for his art. The count and his guests follow their shadows into the realm of the subconscious; it is the shadows that enact a violent outcome to this scenario, the dreamers who are purged of their poisonous emotions. "The visual presentation of the film, with its chiaroscuro photography and the heightened, trance-like mime of the actors, creates a silent ballet, a symbolic pantomime, interspersed by the 'warning shadows,' silhouettes projected on the screen, or onto the translucent shades of windows lit from behind, like independent, menacing forces. Robison introduces images reflected in mirrors, which themselves betray those whom they reflect" (Manvell and Fraenkel, The German Cinema).