The tunnel (1915)

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Movie
Original title The tunnel
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1915
length 73 (censored version 1915)
95 (reconstruction 2010) minutes
Rod
Director William Wauer
script William Wauer based on the novel of the same name by Bernhard Kellermann
production Paul Davidson
for PAGU, Berlin
camera Axel Graatkjaer
occupation

The tunnel is a fantastic, German silent film by William Wauer from 1915 based on the novel " Der Tunnel " by Bernhard Kellermann

action

Engineer Max Allan is planning something fantastic: He wants nothing less than to dig a tunnel between Europe and America in order to finally connect the two continents by land. He has also found a potent financier: it is the American billionaire Lloyd. Allan needs huge sums of money to implement this major project, which is estimated to take a decade and a half to build.

But he has powerful opponents who absolutely want to prevent his futuristic dream, above all the president of the financial syndicate Woolf. This incites the workers who toil in the tunnel system to strike and ultimately to revolt. When Allan can persuade his people to continue working with the tongues of angels, his worst adversary takes extreme measures: he lets sabotage be carried out in the hope that these attacks will have an effect on Allan and the workers. But he is very wrong.

Production notes

In 1914 the preparatory work for the most expensive and complex film project of the German Reich to date was carried out. It was planned to film Bernhard Kellermann's novel The Tunnel . The producing Vitascope commissioned Rudolf Meinert to direct the film. This also took on the main role. In Berlin-Weißensee you were already in the middle of filming when the First World War broke out and the film was stopped for financial reasons. The tunnel remained as a torso for over half a year , when in 1915 PAGU took over the reins and began to shoot the film from scratch. This time it was directed by William Wauer , and the main role went to Friedrich Kayßler . This version, which was completed in the Union Atelier in Berlin-Tempelhof , was much more cost-effective in terms of scope and execution than Meinert's project.

The six-act play The Tunnel passed censorship on August 17, 1915 and premiered the following month. A youth ban was issued. Hermann Warm designed the extensive film structures (machines of all kinds). Heinz Karl Heiland assisted director Wauer. For the celebrated operetta singer Fritzi Massary , Der Tunnel was one of her rare trips into film acting.

In 1933 Kurt Bernhardt filmed the book again ( Der Tunnel ), and in 1935 a British version was made under the title Transatlantic Tunnel .

In 2010 a reconstructed version of the film was shown again after 95 years.

reception

The Lichtbild-Bühne felt that “the great song of work” was being sung and that “the poetry of machine technology and the imposing magic of gigantic large-scale industry” was being highlighted in Wauer's film.

In 1933 Kurt Bernhardt shot a "sounding" remake of the material as a German-French co-production. The main roles were played by Paul Hartmann and Gustaf Gründgens in the German and Jean Gabin and Gustaf Gründgens in the French version.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Photo stage, No. 37, from September 11, 1915
  2. ↑ cf. filmportal.de [1]

Web links