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DATE: 1933

LENGTH: 5 min

CATEGORY: Clinical & Surgical, Research & Documentation, Silent, Black & White

PRODUCER/PUBLISHER: Unknown

Summary

In this filmed autopsy—perhaps the first ever performed before a motion picture camera—Dr. Jakob Erdheim of Vienna, Austria opens up an unidentified man, gesticulating, smiling, and chatting with students and colleagues while doing so. Erdheim was a neuro-endocrinologist and cranial pathologist at the height of his career, practicing in Lainz Hospital, the premier public hospital in “Red Vienna.” It was an era when surgeon-filmmakers promoted film as a way to study, analyze and rationalize surgical procedures, document rare and common operations, and visualize otherwise invisible details….Read The Essay


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