The Lord of the World (1913)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Lord of the world |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1913 |
| length | about 84 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rudolf del Zopp |
| script | Rudolf del Zopp |
| production | Karl Werner |
| camera | Georg Paezel |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Herr der Welt is a German silent film science fiction drama from 1913 about the artificial production of gold. Directed by Rudolf del Zopp .
action
André Turenne, happily married to his wife Claire, works in a chemical plant. The young man is completely absorbed in his job, even after work he does chemical experiments. One day he believes he is close to an epoch-making invention and asks his boss Carpot to be allowed to use his private laboratory to complete the invention. When Carpot learns that Turenne wants to produce gold chemically, he thinks he's crazy and throws him out without further ado. Thereupon André sneaks secretly into the laboratory at night. Claire keeps watch on the roof while he experiments. Then suddenly Carpot approaches with some of his people. André piled through the skylight and knocked over a bottle of spirit. By an unfortunate coincidence, the wooden house then catches fire. Everything burns to the ground. Claire goes to the crime scene the following morning and takes a tubular container from the centrifuge that survived the fire, in which her husband created pure gold last night.
André and Claire now think they have reached the goal of their dreams, but Carpot has discovered gold remains on the centrifuge and concludes with razor sharpness that only Turenne could be responsible for the big fire. Because of arson, he is now looking for his former employee. The two Turennes have meanwhile moved to a big city and turned their first self-made gold into cash at a second-hand dealer. Then they find accommodation in an inn. There Carpot finally tracks him down. The former boss makes André an offer: "Sell me your secret or be my partner". Turenne laughs at the old man just as he laughed at him when he asked to use his laboratory. Why should he share too? André Turenne knows that with his invention he could become “Lord of the World”. Carpot then has Turenne arrested for arson. Claire, not present at the moment, sneaks after her arrested husband and frees him in a hussar coup. The couple fled abroad, Andrés old home, but one is not safe there either, because there is currently a lot of turmoil in this country, as the national bankruptcy is in sight.
As an ardent patriot, André makes his country an offer to help the country out of its financial crisis with his gold creation. A secret state treaty is signed and André is celebrated as the savior of his homeland. In order to avoid covetousness from light-shy rabble, André sprinkles gold sand in an open field every night, so that the public believes that only a gold vein has been opened there. Soon the country will be pacified and live in prosperity. André then decides that gold production should now be stopped. The government naturally sees it very differently and, in its ingratitude, interns its savior in a castle. The reason given in newspaper reports is that Turenne described himself as “master of the world” in megalomania. At home, Carpot also reads these reports and of course immediately suspects the connections. He lets Turenne know that he would release him for an appropriate fee. Carpot disguises himself as a peddler and penetrates into the interior of the castle. He gives Turenne a slip that says that he has prepared everything for Andrés to escape on the south side of the castle wall. The escape succeeds, but Carpot is killed. And again André and Claire have to flee the country.
Back in the land from which he was once stormed, Turenne is received with all honor. Now he officially begins to produce gold, which soon arouses envy, resentment and general desires in the neighboring countries. The neighboring states declare war on the gold-producing country, so André has to boost his gold production properly so that the use of the army, navy and air force can be financed. Turenne is soon the uncrowned king, even the regent condescends and calls his most important gold procurer himself. An accident - a centrifuge container flies out of its anchorage - Turenne is seriously injured one day. Anticipating its near end, André wants to write down the secret formula to leave Claire behind. But it is already too late; Before André can pass on his secret to his beloved wife, he dies. Sobbing, she throws herself on his corpse. The self-proclaimed master of the world took the secret of his gold production with him to his grave.
Production notes
The Lord of the World was made in the second half of 1913 in the Karl Werner film studio in Berlin's Große Frankfurter Straße 105. The five-act act was censored in December 1913 and was premiered on January 6, 1914 in Germany. In Austria-Hungary, however, the film must have been presented at the beginning of December 1913, as the Kinematographische Rundschau discussed it in detail on pages 104 and 106 of its December 7, 1913 issue. An official screening at the Vienna Film Show took place on December 10, 1913, the Austrian mass start was on January 9, 1914. The film was 1,535 meters long. In the United States, The Lord of the World was launched in June 1914 under the title Master of the World .
Kurt Dürnhöfer designed the film structures .
The same topic, the artificial production of gold, was also taken up by Karl Hartl's film Gold with Hans Albers in 1934 .