The End of the World (1930)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The end of the world
Original title La fin du monde
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1931
length 105 (French original version) 86 (German version 1977) minutes
Rod
Director Abel Gance
with the assistance of Jean Epstein
Walter Ruttmann
Edmond T. Gréville
script Abel Gance
Jean Boyer
H. S. Kraft based
on the original of the same name by Camille Flammaron
production K. Ivanoff
for L'écran d'art, Paris
music Arthur Honegger
Michel Michelet
Maurice Marthenot
camera Jules Kruger
Roger Hubert
Nicolas Roudakoff
occupation

The End of the World is a French science fiction and disaster film with strong messages of international understanding, internationalism and pacifism. This early sound film, made in 1930, was directed by Abel Gance .

action

At the center of the story are the scholar Jean Novalic, his brother Martial and the attractive Geneviève de Murcie. One day Martial, an astronomer , discovers a comet in the sky in his observatory, financed by the banker Schomburg , which inevitably rushes towards earth and promises ultimate destruction. This realization now makes people react very differently in his environment and break through basic instincts such as fear and greed, but also willingness to help and the will to change. Martial's brother Jean, who is badly injured in the head while trying to protect a young girl from abuse and then falls into mental derangement, is the first to see an approaching apocalypse and prophesy the end of the world. He swears his brother to unite humanity. From now on, his vision determines Martial's actions.

Soon the world will be divided into two different camps: On the one hand there are the Novalic brothers, who now see the time for people to give up their egoisms and join forces to form a single people without nationalisms and prejudices, without lust for war and property claims become. The banker Werster, who begins to rethink his previous positions, takes their side. He finances the purchase of a newspaper and a radio station with which Novalic can disseminate its reminders and demands. But there is also the opposite position, such as that of the stockbroker and banker Schomburg. Due to the looming disaster, he senses a great opportunity to really make money again. He doesn't know a conscience, he even fuels the panic. And if he wants something, he takes it too: he rapes the blonde actress Geneviève, whom he adores, in his apartment when she does not show herself willingly.

Jean, who delves into feverish fantasies and mental confusion, takes on the role of an oracle and ominous herald, but also that of a wise admonisher. Because of his severe head injury, he has to be admitted to a mental hospital, but his wise advice resonates with Martial and Geneviève. Jean's voice calls on Martial to shape a world government, a “universal republic”, and Geneviève soon sees Jean as the new Jesus Christ in her mind's eye. But the other side leaves no stone unturned to sabotage the plans of the Novalic brothers. Schomburg has found a confidante in Geneviève's father, and both claim that Martial kidnapped Geneviève and forced his will on her. The whole comet hysteria, it is claimed, is only serving to create confusion and to destroy the world economy.

Meanwhile, governments are trying to suppress the truth. The other side seems to triumph: the newspaper and radio station financed by Werster are closed, and Werster and Martial have to flee. Schomberg even offers a bounty of one million francs on the murder of Werster and Martial. The next morning, the day came when the comet should be visible to the naked eye from Earth for the first time. While Geneviève is returning to her father, there is a huge party “in honor of the comet”. Instead of connecting the peoples, the state is devising war plans that will soon be announced via the state broadcasters. Before the worst can happen, Werster and Martial, with Geneviève's help, destroy the state radio station on the Eiffel Tower . Schomburg gets wind of it.

He and his hired murderers are rushing to the Parisian landmark and want to take the elevator upstairs to finally finish off the opponents who have a vision of peace. Martial and Werster are warned by phone from Geneviève. She defies Werster's request to stay downstairs and takes the elevator up. Werster cuts the elevator cable with a cutting torch, so that the villains, including Schomburg, but also with Geneviève, fall into the depths and perish in the process. Radio Novalic is now back on the road, the comet is now visible to everyone, and the cataclysm seems inevitable. Soon there will be enormous turbulence and upheavals, the approaching comet will trigger floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. Many people only react in panic. For the night before the big impact, a big convention for the unification of all states and their people is proclaimed. Orgies take place, which are soon followed by silent prayers. Now finally, in the face of final doom, all human beings are ready to get along in unity and peace. But the great catastrophe does not materialize, the comet only brushes past the earth. The chance for a universal new beginning for people - so the message of the film - is now given.

Production notes

The film, shot in 1930, premiered on January 23, 1931 in Paris. The German first broadcast was on January 6, 1977 on WDR television .

The end of the world was planned by Gance while the movie was still silent and was an attempt to create something on par with his huge epic film Napoleon . “He played the leading role in it, and a strange working photograph has been published in which the director looks into the lens of the camera as Christ with the crown of thorns, the stigmata on his bare flanks. Several years of work and enormous funds were put into a company that collapsed with the advent of the talkie. The film as shown is unfinished and garbled. As a result, Gance had to turn to modest, mostly commercial tasks, ”as Georges Sadoul reported.

The original version was about three hours long and shortened to 105 minutes. Apparently, the German version shown on WDR at the beginning of 1977 was cut again, which reduced the film to 86 minutes.

In addition to the German avant-garde film maker Walter Ruttmann , film architect Lazare Meerson also supported Gance's ambitious project with his skills.

Reviews

The film was a financial fiasco and was discussed by numerous French film critics in the first few months of 1931 and mostly badly rated, sometimes downright panned.

The non-French post-war criticism showed much more respect for Gance's ambitions. Here are some examples:

Reclam's film guide wrote about “The End of the World”: “Again Gance has conjured up the horror of annihilation in a monstrous work and thus appealed to the common sense. La fin du monde was one of the first French sound films. In places Gance used the possibilities of sound very skilfully, but on the other hand was occasionally tempted to be talkative. He later distanced himself from the film, which the producer had drastically cut and changed. "

The Lexicon of International Films found: In the perfectly staged animated shots, the film can withstand a comparison with today's productions.

Kay Less saw Gance's production as "a cinematic allegory of the strife between peoples."

A review by Variety read: "A megalomaniac's effort turned out without consideration for financial results, and containing a strange mixture of crazy stuff, with successfully directed spectacular sequences."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georges Sadoul: History of the cinematic art. Vienna 1957, p. 176
  2. ↑ The end of the world in the French film criticism in 1931
  3. ↑ Reclams Filmführer, by Dieter Krusche, collaboration: Jürgen Labenski. P. 310. Stuttgart 1973.
  4. ↑ Klaus Brüne (Red.): Lexikon des Internationale Films, Volume 2, S. 857. Reinbek near Hamburg 1987.
  5. ↑ 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 3: F - H. Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 173.
  6. ↑ cit. n. Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 315. Translation: The effort of a megalomaniac regardless of box office income. [The film] contains a strange mixture of crazy things with successfully staged, spectacular individual scenes.

Web links