Stalk underwater
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Stalk underwater |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 16 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rudolf Schaad |
| script | Rudolf Schaad, Hans Hass |
| production | Nicholas Kaufmann , UFA cultural film department |
| music | Friedrich Witeschnik |
| camera | Hans Hass |
| cut | Karl Kurzmayer |
| occupation | |
| |
Underwater stalking is one of the world's first underwater nature films. Without a tripod and at a depth of up to 17 meters, the students led by Hans Hass were the first to penetrate the tropical coral reefs of the Caribbean with a camera and harpoon and capture them in photos and films.
action
“Stalking Under Water” shows the fascinating beginnings of the underwater film. The diving trip begins in an unspectacular manner in the Krapfenwaldl outdoor pool in Vienna . Three students (Hass, Wurzian, Böhler) demonstrate and explain to two Viennese women how to operate the underwater camera, diving mask , fins and harpoon . There is joke the girls don't believe the camera and harpoon really work.
Change of location: the impressive tropical underwater world near Curaçao with its variety of coral shapes and fish species. Without breathing apparatus, Hans Hass films and follows the large schools of fish, including parrot and trumpet fish, mackerel, barracudas, groupers and turtles. Then the first encounter with a hammerhead shark that passes by some distance away.
background
Shot in 1940 with a 16 mm Movikon K16 camera from Zeiss Ikon in a self-made, watertight housing off Curacao.
The strip was brought out by UFA Berlin. In this partnership, Hass was the cameraman, actor and commentary speaker; the design was taken over by UFA director Rudolf Schaad in 1941 .
In order to give the underwater shots from the Caribbean an appropriate framework and to have more intercuts available, filming was carried out in Berlin , Vienna and Dubrovnik in 1941 (camera: Karl Kurzmayer): In the Viennese Krapfenwaldl-Bad a frame story was created with the Austrian actress Helli Servi, which should prepare the viewer for the unfamiliar underwater shots. In an aquarium in the film studios in Babelsberg , intercuts were made with the help of rear projections, which show Hans Hass and his friends with their underwater cameras and hinted stitch scenes. Additional footage was filmed above and below water near Dubrovnik. Among other things, a scene in which Jörg Böhler dives into a wooden boat with a spear.
During his stay near Dubrovnik, Hans Hass tried out new underwater cameras with Plexiglas housings and took photos in color. Some of these recordings can be seen in his book “Fotojagd unter Wasser” (1942).
The premiere was on May 8, 1942 in the Ufa Theater Tauentzienpalast in Berlin. It ran there as a supporting film for "Violanta" by Peter Ostermayr and subsequently as a supporting film for the newsreels.
literature
Jung, Michael: Hans Hass. A lifetime of expedition. Stuttgart, 1994.
Web links
- Game under water in the Internet Movie Database (English)