Atlantic (film)

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Movie
Original title Atlantic
Country of production Great Britain
original language German
Publishing year 1929
length 114 minutes
Rod
Director EA Dupont
script EA Dupont,
Victor Kendall
production EA Dupont
music John Reynders
(musical direction)
camera Charles Rosher
occupation

Atlantik is a German-language, British film drama by Ewald André Dupont from 1929. Fritz Kortner , Elsa Wagner , Heinrich Schroth , Julia Serda , Elfriede Borodin , Lucie Mannheim , Franz Lederer and Willi Forst play the leading roles .

The film is based on the play The Berg (1929) by Ernest Raymond .

action

Based on the shipwreck of the "Titanic" in April 1912, this film tells the story of a passenger cruise ship named "Atlantic". The luxury liner is on its maiden voyage from Europe to America. There is a lively atmosphere on board, both among the rich on the upper deck and among the passengers in the lower classes. The "Atlantic" is considered unsinkable ...

Captain von Oldenburg want on the North Atlantic route with the ship as soon as possible the Atlantic crossing, always a hair's breadth below the Treibeiszone . But during the crossing there is a drop in temperature and the ice spreads rapidly to the south. Oldenburg gives his first officer Lersner the instruction to dampen any unease among the passengers. Ultimately, there is a fatal collision with an iceberg . But the passengers, completely trusting the 'unsinkability' of the ship, do not allow themselves to be alarmed further at first - even when the captain orders to board the lifeboats as part of an alleged 'emergency exercise'.

The “Atlantic” can stay afloat for a maximum of three hours, after which it will be submerged in the ocean. The severely disabled writer Thomas was the first to learn from Lersner the true extent of the catastrophe: The hull of the ship was completely slashed, it is said. The young Viennese pianist Poldi overhears this conversation by chance and falls into deep despair. Finally he sits down at the piano and plays a heartbreaking song of melancholy and farewell. Chaos quickly arises: "Women and children first" is the motto when it comes to boarding the far too few lifeboats. The young couple Monica and Peter are separated. The passengers left behind, like the crew members, gather for prayer and wait together for the downfall that will inevitably lead to their death.

Production and Background

A patent dispute, which was smoldering at the time, forced the filmmakers to show the film recorded on the system of the American Radio Corporation on the only German sound film equipment permitted in Germany. Since the apparatus of the Gloria-Palast was adjusted to the peculiarity of the English language with its sibilant sounds, it initially proved unsuitable for German dialogue films. Extensive work was necessary, which Dupont tried to get to grips with with the help of a specialist brought with him from England and German engineers and demonstrations in day and night shifts.

The fiction film made in 1929, the first sound film in German, was based on the Titanic sea ​​disaster of 1912. Atlantic was produced in three versions by British International Pictures (BIP), Ltd., London, in the Elstree studios in London : One in English under the title Atlantic , the German and a French called Atlantis . Dupont directed all three versions, but different actors were available for each language version. The exterior shots were taken in the Tilbury docks , P. & O. Liner SS "Cornorin". The film was shot in June / July 1929.

In Germany, Atlantik called at Berlin's Gloria Palast on October 28, 1929 ; of the three versions, the German was shown first. The premiere was a big event in which, in addition to people from the field, numerous public figures took part. The final applause was on a scale that had never been heard before in a Berlin cinema. The visitors stood for minutes and applauded the actors and the director on stage. The general opinion was that a historical hour in German cinema had been attended.

Several songs were played or sung, of which Willi Forst wistfully intoned Es wird ein Wein ... ( Ludwig Gruber / Josef Hornig) should develop into a veritable evergreen . Felix Powell's soldier song Far is the way back to the homeland was used a little later in the German films The Other Side (1931) and Refugees (1933).

In the survey carried out among German cinema owners in June 1930, Atlantik was named as the most commercially successful feature film of the past season (1929/30).

Reviews

Contemporary

Herbert Ihering from the Berlin Börsen-Courier wrote in issue no. 506 of October 29, 1929 that this was "the first 100% sound film" to be shown in Berlin. With his film theme, Dupont was ahead of all others: "the event, the happening, the shipwreck". Here he “did some preparatory work in the material and in the implementation that the other German directors are only slowly able to catch up with”. Ihering took offense when Dupont, who took on the tasks and possibilities of the sound film with the "moving sound and image symphony of the howling sirens and rushing water, the chasing people and the desperate harmonica game, the screaming passengers and rattling lifeboats, the whistling, hissing, booming signals and the frozen silence “canceled his own intentions in the dialogue parts. This “fundamental misunderstanding fails the great effect”.

Paul Wiegler showed himself in the BZ am Mittag , Berlin, No. 296, October 29, 1929, not very fond of the silent film to the speaking film, since it “narrows everything, falsifies the milieu”; and "by the text and the register of persons [is] pressed down to a taste that is provincial". “What was spoken there, before the catastrophe, in its horror, [was] of a helpless paper German banality”. Only the performance of Fritz Kortner found grace in the eyes of the critic.

Frank Maraun (actually Erwin Goelz) came to a negative overall result in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , Berlin, No. 503, of October 29, 1929, and judged that “one stands helplessly before the whole of the execution. The intersection between the terms film and theater goes through the heart of the viewer with every line. The big-headed full-length shots of speaking actors lack the dimension of the room… ”However, he also emphasized that“ some scenes [were] extremely successful and would be found as gold grains in the retort of this experimental arrangement ”.

Hanns G. Lustig stated for Tempo , Berlin, No. 253, from October 29, 1929: “EA Dupont's speech image Atlantic will conquer this city. His position is so strong that one can emphatically point out the dangerous mistakes that it shows in the dramaturgical. ”A little later it says:“ But it should be noted that everything linguistic in Dupont's film succeeded in an unexpected way. The people he shows have their real, natural voices. Sound source and sound are completely united. "

Heinz Pol from the Vossische Zeitung , Berlin, No. 511, from October 29, 1929, was of the opinion that on this “at least memorable evening the silent film, which after 25 arduous years of fiddling and youthful sins, sometimes turned out to be one brought wonderful art, was carried to the grave with loud pomp ”.

Alfréd Keményi from the Rote Fahne , Berlin, No. 219, of October 31, 1929, tore the film and spoke of a "measly and petty" director by Dupont, which reduced the dimensions. It went on: “Only first class idiots are presented, a menagerie! The III. You only see class shortly before going down. ”The critic spoke of“ cinematically exuberant [m] Schmalz a hundred pounds ”. Eisenstein , Pudowkin and Chaplin had from the beginning - seeing clearly - denied any possibility of the development of the talking film.

Kurt Pinthus wrote in the weekly Das Tage-Buch , Berlin, No. 44, of November 2, 1929: The subject of the 100% sound film Atlantic, the sinking of a giant steamer after the fate of the Titanic, is the same for the art genre he wants to establish not very suitable, as it is great for the art genre of the silent film that it wants to replace. Pinthus criticized the fact that in four fifths of the film, "only about ten people in a single room - in very few shots, almost always in front of the camera and microphone".

Bernard von Brentano from the Frankfurter Zeitung , No. 824, dated November 4, 1929 divided the audience into two groups: people who know something about the craft, would have applauded “enthusiastic applause”, “without being enthusiastic”, and those who "sat dumb, shaken, and overwhelmed" and it took them a while to rise. Brentano also saw “the biggest mistake in the manuscript” in the fact that “the viewer only ever gets to see the first class, the most boring ...” Nevertheless, Brentano came to the conclusion that the film was “great”, even though he was "More mistakes" have "than five silent films together". Siegfried Kracauer , also from the Frankfurter Zeitung , added on December 5, 1929: “How the tone here underlines the importance of silence is quite strange and exciting. The film runs in the Roxy Palace. Every movie friend should see him. "

Rudolf Arnheim of the Weltbühne , Berlin, No. 45, dated November 5, 1929, recommended that the “sound film people [s] should make it clear to themselves as urgently as possible that at the same moment they let even a single word speak , Aeschylos , Shakespeare and Goethe as competitors ”.

“If 'The land without women' was a sound film promise, 'Atlantic' is the first huge step towards fulfillment. Language is no longer a problem, but a fact. We are also dealing with an English talkie (Radio Corporation). There are a couple of crowd scenes in which the English language has even been retained. […] Definitely a great achievement by EA Dupont, who with this film has set himself a permanent monument in European film history. The first sound film was shot in two languages ​​and with two casts. The greatest sound film pessimists are now slowly becoming optimists. "

- Oskar Kalbus :

Later

"With his appearances in 'Atlantic' and 'Two Hearts in Three-Four Time' , Forst became the new heartthrob, who played soulful songs of love and farewell with heart and melancholy."

- Kay Less :

“For Dupont, filming the atmosphere of a luxury steamer (in the 1st class and also in the intermediate deck) was a task no less appealing than the dramatic increase that resulted from the fear of death after the collision. It was a great film material, a material particularly suitable for sound film creation; And the film is important because the director was looking for new ground in sound film dramaturgical terms and in doing so took the first steps on a path on which we have not yet gone much further. "

- Heinrich Fraenkel :

Karlheinz Wendtland was of the opinion that this was a sound film that “completely overshadowed previous productions”. He continued: “Sound and image direction were balanced, the usual inadequacies were forgotten. Back then there was hardly an American sound film that was better. It was a typically German sound film that, interestingly, left behind both the English and French versions, which were shot at the same time. "

"Veiled retelling of the Titanic story, here in a clumsy Anglo-German version with extremely primitive sound and a plethora of pregnant silences."

- Halliwell's Film Guide :

EA Dupont to his critics

On Alfred Kerr's criticism in the Berliner Tageblatt on June 5, 1929: Well, the sound film got it for you “That's right, the sound film got it for me. Kerr is right (as always). Or rather: I got the sound film by making one (out of meanness). And then part of the Berlin press worried me by tearing me down (out of justice). ”Dupont asked the critics in a slightly smug“ excuse that [he] had the boldness to take them along without any preparation to make known an invention which for a long time has had the most noticeable influence on public life in England and America, and of its real significance and possibility in Germany (the land of progress, poets and thinkers) so far little more than a catchphrase became known ". He went on to write that the critics were right to be “annoyed when they were suddenly [startled] out of their romantic dreams about the silent film and led back into a cinema in which people were suddenly talking on the screen began (albeit nonsense!) and not only in English [...], which is difficult to control if you don't speak the language, but German ”.

Regarding Herbert Ihering's criticism in the Berlin Börsen-Courier on October 29, 1929: But, as paradoxical as it may sound, in sound films you have to speak and direct speech like on the radio, as if the actors weren't seen ... “Bravo! Herbert Columbus's egg. "

Regarding the statement in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of October 29, 1929: The large-headed (?) Full-length shots of speaking actors lack the dimension of space. “Oh, how strange! And with the big-headed (!) Full shots of non-speaking actors in the silent film - where is the 'dimension of space' ?? "

Regarding the statement in the German daily newspaper of October 29, 1929, the sound film deprives things of illusion and pushes them away from the sober: “Silent films are like people. Only the certainty of death awakens recognition. "

Regarding the statement in the Vossische Zeitung of October 29, 1929 that Dupon was a mediocre theater director who, hypnotized, stuck to the room and hardly dares to crawl . "Bravo! You recognized it. I do not crawl. Neither in the room (why?) Nor in front of my critics. ”[…]“ Besides, I am happy to take note of your assessment of my qualifications as a theater director. Since, as far as I know, I have never staged a play, the source on the basis of which you have so decidedly decided on the predicate 'mediocre' remains your secret, as do some of the other dark remarks from your criticism ... "

Other versions

English version

The English version under the title Atlantic was also directed by EA Dupont, Victor Kendall wrote the script and Emilie de Ruelle was responsible for editing. The London premiere of the film took place on November 15, 1929 at the Regal Cinema (Tradeshow).
The English occupation was as follows:

French version

In March 1930, a French version was also created under the title Atlantis . Here too, FA Dupont and Jean Kemm directed the film. The book was again written by Victor Kendall, this time in collaboration with Pierre Maudru. The Paris premiere of the film took place on June 25, 1930 at Olympia.
French occupation:

Also: André Burgéres, René Montis, Andrews Engelman, Guy Ferrant

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As in Alfred Bauer's Deutscher Spielfilm-Almanach, the film is often referred to as a German-British joint production, probably due to the different language versions. However, the only production company operating was British International Pictures , London
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Gero Gandert : The film of the Weimar Republic 1929 A manual of contemporary criticism. Published by Gero Gandert, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1993, Film 9, pp. 34–52 - ISBN 3-11-011183-7 on behalf of the Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation
  3. ↑ Fraenkel's Immortal Film says on page 98: Forst “had already had a well-deserved global success in EA Dupont's film adaptation of the 'Titanic' catastrophe Atlantic , namely in the rather small role of the young Viennese piano player who played during the shipwreck stays on the wing of the salon and sings softly to himself: It will be a wine, and we will never be ... there will be beautiful girls, and we will never live ... "
  4. ^ Alfred Bauer: German Feature Film Almanach 1929–1950. Munich 1976, p. 1. ISBN 3-921612-00-4
  5. ^ Ulrich J. Klaus: German sound films, 1st year 1929/30. P. 25. Berlin-Berchtesgaden 1988. ISBN 3-927352-00-4
  6. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p.
  7. ^ Oskar Kalbus: On the becoming of German film art. Part 2: The sound film . Berlin 1935, p. 12
  8. ^ Kai Less: The large personal dictionary of films, Volume 3 , p. 60, Berlin 2001
  9. ^ Heinrich Fraenkel: Immortal Film. The great chronicle. From the first tone to the colored wide screen. Munich 1957, p. 42
  10. ^ Karlheinz Wendtland: Beloved Kintopp. All German feature films from 1929–1945 with numerous artist biographies born in 1929 and 1930, Medium Film Verlag Karlheinz Wendtland, Berlin, first edition 1988, second revised edition 1990, p. 12, film 1/1929. ISBN 3-926945-10-9
  11. ^ Halliwell's Film Guide, New York 1989, p. 58