The kilometer eater
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The kilometer eater |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1925 |
| length | Orig. 2200 m - approx. 80 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Karl Imelski |
| production | Steyrermühl-Lichtbild Gesellschaft |
| music | Florian C. Reithner |
| camera | Willy Winterstein |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Kilometerfresser is an Austrian cultural film with a feature film by Karl Imelski . It was shot in the summer of 1923 and premiered in June 1925 at the Urania in Vienna .
action
The sportsman Ernest bets his club colleagues that within a few days he will drive a certain distance across Central Europe on his Norton motorcycle , climb the Großvenediger and finally row on the Danube through the Wachau to Vienna. His friend, the journalist, is supposed to check that the route is being followed, and so the two of them play little pranks on each other. Ernest arrives in Vienna on time and wins the bet.
background
The Volksbildungshaus Wiener Urania also wanted to use the film as a folk education medium, after having already been able to point to corresponding successes with slide shows. Purely documentary cultural films did not bring the hoped-for response from the audience, which is why an attempt was made to link the documentary content with a feature film plot. In the style of “Around the World in 80 Days”, a bet in this film is the reason to describe a longer journey. The film shows the landscape, cities, monuments and customs along the route through Austria, Italy, the Balkans and Czechoslovakia.
The film was received favorably by the critics and was released in theaters in Austria and Germany with commercial success.
The director of the film, Karl Imelski , had already made the cultural film "King Dachstein" in 1922 with the main actor, the sportsman Ernst Ganauser.
Camera work
Willy Winterstein's camera work depicts the sights along the route in the style of postcard motifs, which is an important design element in this cultural film, which was supposed to show important stations in Central Europe.
particularities
The film was awarded by Urania in Austria and Deulig in Germany . Although the film was shown in German there as there, the text of the subtitles in the German version differs noticeably in places from the Austrian original version.
Others
There was a separate cut version of the film for the German and Austrian distributors, as well as a significantly longer version for Urania in Vienna . There each of the then seven acts was introduced with a short lecture. The lecture texts are preserved in the Austrian Adult Education Center. The Vienna Urania also loaned excerpts from the film for use in school cinemas. The original first act of the film, in which the history of the journey shown is described, is still lost.
restoration
The film was thought to be lost for decades, was found again by chance in the warehouse of a Viennese antique dealer and identified as "The Kilometer Eater". The viraged film was restored in 2004 by the Filmarchiv Austria . No original music has been preserved for this film. The first setting for orchestra was composed in 2007 by Florian C. Reithner on behalf of the Orchester Filmharmonie , which is also available on DVD.
Web links
- The kilometer eater in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The kilometer eater at filmportal.de
- Filmarchiv Austria
- Film concert by the Filmharmonie Orchestra
- Excerpt from the film on youtube
- DVD edition of the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Der Kilometerfresser" , booklet accompanying the DVD, 2014