The split image of seduction and decay serves as the perfect lithographic calling card for “Enemy in the Blood,” a peculiar 1931 educational documentary and cautionary tale on the dangers of syphilis filmed at both Grunewald Studios in Berlin and a health research institute in Switzerland. The movie is comprised of a lengthy prologue where the disease is described and theoretically explained—Spanish conquistadors are singled out for having introduced the malady to the modern world—followed by a trio of stories that illustrate the perils of casual anonymous sex.

“This German-Swiss coproduction... was one of the projects of the avant-garde that flourished at the time. The director was Walter Ruttmann, a German innovator who made a name for himself with his documentary, ‘Berlin–Symphony of a Large City’ in 1927... This poster is a typical move for Paul Colin: he accepted the commission, with little remuneration as it was done for an obscure documentary with almost no chance of financial return, solely because he respected the artistic integrity of its producers” (Colin/Affichiste, p. 56). In addition to his “Symphony,” Ruttmann (1887-1941) helmed the dream sequences in Fritz Lang's “Die Niebelungen” and helped edit Leni Riefenstahl's “Triumph of the Will.” During World War II, he made propaganda films for the Nazis, an undertaking that would literally prove to be his undoing as Ruttmann was killed while filming a military exercise on the Eastern Front.