The white hell of Piz Palü

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The white hell of Piz Palü
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1929
length 139 minutes
Rod
Director Arnold Fanck
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
script Arnold Fanck
Ladislaus Vajda
production Harry R. Sokal
for Sokal Film
music Willy Schmidt-Gentner
camera Sepp Allgeier
Richard Angst
Hans Schneeberger
cut Arnold Fanck
Hermann Haller
occupation

The white hell of Piz Palü is a German mountain film drama by Arnold Fanck and Georg Wilhelm Pabst from 1929. It is a silent film . The main roles are cast with Gustav Diessl , Leni Riefenstahl and Ernst Petersen .

action

Movie poster for the film The White Hell from Piz Palü , 1929

Maria Krafft, the wife of mountaineer Dr. Johannes Krafft, falls into a crevasse on Piz Palü because of the carelessness of the couple and dies.

A few years later: The newlyweds Hans Brandt and Maria Maioni go on a mountain tour there. You quarter yourself in the lonely Diavolezzaberghütte . The befriended stunt pilot Udet drops a bottle of champagne for her to celebrate with the parachute. The hoped-for loneliness is made possible by the appearance of the mountain guide Christian and Dr. Johannes Krafft thwarted. Krafft, who did not get over the death of his wife, repeatedly climbs the Piz Palü and tries to conquer the north face on his own, but has failed twice. Maria feels drawn to the silent man. His wife who died in the accident was also called Maria.

The next day, the couple set off with Krafft to the north face of Piz Palü. A group of inexperienced students follows them, but they are torn down by an avalanche. None of the young men survived.

Hans, who is increasingly displeasing Maria's obvious affection for Krafft, wants to prove that he too is “a man” and takes over the leadership of the group despite Krafft's warning. When it crashes, it can just about be caught. Krafft breaks his leg while rescuing Hans. Oncoming storms, falling rocks and avalanches as well as Krafft and Brandt's injuries make a descent impossible. The missing people wait three days and nights on a ledge. Hans suffers a breakdown and has to be handcuffed so that he does not plunge into the depths in his confusion. Dr. Krafft leaves his warm jacket to Hans. The aviator Udet finally discovers the trio, but the food dropped on parachutes misses its target. But he can show the rescuers the position of the victim.

Krafft lies down in the snow some distance away, where he freezes to death. The rescue team sent out finds the couple and brings them down to the valley. Christian finds Krafft's notebook in which he left the message that no one should look for him.

production

Filming

Piz Palü, seen from the Diavolezza

The film was shot from January to June 1929 in the snowy regions of the Bernina massif . Arnold Fanck took over the exterior shots in the mountains, Georg Wilhelm Pabst took over the interior shoots and advised Fanck on the dramaturgy. The set of the film comes from Ernő Metzner . The nature photographs of mountains and glaciers, snowstorms and avalanches are so good that even experts did not doubt their authenticity. Fanck worked with his proven camera team around Sepp Allgeier , Richard Angst and Hans Schneeberger , and the leading actress Leni Riefenstahl had also been a permanent member of Fanck for several years. With the aviator Ernst Udet he shot storms over Mont Blanc (1930) and SOS Iceberg (1933).

Publication, new version

The premiere of The White Hell from Piz Palü was on October 11, 1929 in Vienna. In Germany it was shown for the first time on November 1st of that year in Stuttgart, the official German premiere was on November 15th in Berlin. In the first four weeks after its premiere, the film was seen by more than 100,000 people in Berlin's UFA-Palast and was also an international success. In 1930 an English sound film version was produced under the title The White Hell of Piz Palü .

Two thousand and one released the film in 2013 in the series “Der Deutsche Film” under the number 1/1929 on DVD.

The film was shortened in 1935 (including the scenes with the Jewish actor Kurt Gerron , who had already emigrated ) and reworked into a sound version with illustrative music by Giuseppe Becce . This new version was first performed on December 13, 1935. The original version from 1929 was lost until 1996 . The edited original version has been available in stores since 1998. It also contains the previously removed scenes with Kurt Gerron. In addition, it was accompanied by a new film music composed by Ashley Irwin and recorded by the Babelsberg German Film Orchestra .

criticism

Cinema drew the conclusion: "The force of the pictures is still fascinating" and stated: "The shoot, which was not only risky for the circumstances at the time, produced sensational images of nature and made the film an international success."

Kino.de stated that director Arnold Fanck madethis silent film in1929, even before Luis Trenker answered the call of the Matterhorn, and thus "founded the genre of mountain films". It went on: “Far more spectacular than the rather poor plot were the consistently fascinating nature shots, which turned out so perfect that critics even suspected they had been shot in the studio. But they weren't - everything is real! "

Others

A remake of the film was made in 1950 with the title Föhn , directed by Rolf Hansen with Hans Albers and Liselotte Pulver in the leading roles.

There is a reference to the film in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds : Lt. Archie Hicox, an English spy in Wehrmacht uniform, explains his strange accent to an SS-Sturmbannführer due to its alleged origin at the foot of Piz Palü, saying that he also played in the film.

literature

  • Arnold Fanck : He directed with glaciers, storms and avalanches. A film pioneer tells . Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1973, 394 pages, ISBN 3-485-01756-6
  • Klaus Lippert The white hell of Piz Palü . In Günther Dahlke, Günther Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginnings to 1933. A film guide. Henschel Verlag, 2nd edition, Berlin 1993, pp. 203 ff. ISBN 3-89487-009-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German feature films from the beginning until 1933 , p. 203
  2. ↑ The white hell from Piz Palü Film 1/1929, two thousand and one edition
  3. ↑ The white hell of Piz Palü sS cinema.de (with 24 film images). Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  4. ↑ The white hell of Piz Palü sS kino.de (incl. Trailer). Retrieved October 28, 2018.