The Tunnel (1935)

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Movie
Original title The tunnel
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 95 minutes
Rod
Director Maurice Elvey
script L. you Guard Peach
production Michael Balcon
music Hubert Bath
camera Günther Krampf
cut Charles Frend
occupation

The Tunnel is a 1935 British science fiction film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Richard Dix and Leslie Banks . The story is based on the novel Der Tunnel (1913) by the German writer Bernhard Kellermann .

action

Engineer Richard "Mack" McAllan is a visionary man. He had already supervised the construction of a canal tunnel between Europe and the British Isles in 1940 and is now to play a leading role in what is still a very fantastic undertaking, the construction of a transatlantic tunnel. Mack attends a meeting in the house of old millionaire Lloyd, to which key representatives of the steel, aerospace, oil and defense industries have been invited. The possible realization of such a project has only become possible through the so-called allanite, a non-porous steel, and a new radium drill developed by McAllan's friend Frederick 'Robbie' Robbins. Major financier Lloyd is convinced that such a tunnel could help secure world peace. After some debate, the group agrees to fund the major project. Three years have passed and work on the tunnel has begun from both sides of the Atlantic, with McAllan overseeing the tunnel excavation on the British side. A television broadcast worldwide reports on the important achievement of the radium drill and how the McAllan, who is enthusiastic around him, is an inspiration to the entire workforce.

More and more, enthusiasm for the project obscures McAllan's private life. He neglects his wife Ruth and their son Geoffrey. When Mr. Lloyd wants to see him, McAllan travels to see him in New York instead of going home to Geoffrey's birthday party. Because of these priorities, the two spouses eventually quarrel. Lloyd tells McAllan that public confidence in tunneling is gradually waning and that he needs to do more publicity to keep excitement about the project going. McAllan follows this maxim rather reluctantly and allows himself to be marketed in magazines and newspapers. Lloyd's daughter Varlia, who is secretly in love with Mac, now appears regularly to accompany him. Without her husband's knowledge, Ruth McAllan joins the tunnel project as a nurse, but soon becomes seriously ill due to a gas eruption and eventually goes blind. Since Ruth believes she has lost her husband to Varlia, she decides to leave him. But she asks Robbie not to tell MacAllan that she is blind. When Mack returns home, Robbie tells him Ruth has left and blames him heavily for neglecting both her and Geoffrey in the past.

Together with Mostyn, another extremely wealthy project financier, the unscrupulous arms manufacturer Grellier, for whom the transatlantic tunnel should always have a different core function, namely that of the more problem-free eviction of his weapon systems, devised a plan to give the other shareholders control of the tunnel to snatch. He wants to achieve this by initiating a decline in the value of the shares. Mostyn and Grellier thus obtain a majority of shares in their syndicate. After an explosion, McAllan informs the syndicate that the tunnel layout must be changed, as one inevitably approaches an underground volcano on the route. Since the financiers are unwilling to invest any more money to fund this change of plan, Varlia Mostyn, who loves her one-sidedly, suggests that they enter into a relationship with him if he continues to be willing to support McAllan financially. When Mostyn approves Varlia's proposal, Grellier is furious and demands that Mostyn revoke the deal. However, since the investor is not ready to do so, the arms dealer has Mostyn killed without further ado.

There was an explosion while the tunnel was being built and the construction crew refused to return to the tunnel work. McAllan leads a small group of workers to repair the damage. This latter group also includes Geoffrey McAllan, who has now grown up. With the work that now begins to lead the tunnel around the volcano, Mack finally begins to get to know his once estranged son better. However, when another explosion threatened work on the entire tunnel, the closing of the security doors resulted in the deaths of hundreds of trapped workers, including Geoffrey. Ruth, who has arrived in the tunnel to see what has become of Geoffrey, meets her husband again after many years of separation. Only now does he notice that she is blind. After the American tunnel excavation is completed, McAllan leads four volunteers, including "Robbie" Robbins, into the tunnel to complete the excavation. Surrounded by scorching heat around the volcano, the radium drill digs its way through the rock and reaches the breakthrough that connects the British with the American side. The completed tunnel will eventually be opened with joint ceremonies on both sides of the Atlantic, and McAllan and Ruth will also attend this ceremony together.

Production notes

The Tunnel is a slightly modified British remake of the German science fiction classic Der Tunnel by Kurt Bernhardt . It premiered under the US title Transatlantic Tunnel on October 26, 1935 in New York City. British premiere was on November 12, 1935 at the Tivoli Cinema in London as part of an interest screening. The mass start did not take place until March 16, 1936. The strip was never shown in Germany.

The film strongly reveals its German influences; Leading artists who fled Hitler's Germany were particularly involved in the technical and visual appearance of The Tunnel , such as cameraman Günther Krampf , costume designer Joe Strassner and, above all, film architect Ernö Metzner , who was responsible for the futuristic designs.

SC Balcon took over the production management, Curt Siodmak provided the story template. Louis Levy was the musical director. Elsa Schiaparelli helped Strassner with the costume designs.

Reviews

The British Film Institute made the following analysis: “While it has never been satisfactorily explained, it is consistently argued that the joint construction of the tunnel is aimed at increasing trade between Britain and America, easing international tensions and preventing future wars. To quote Lloyd, one of the project's financiers, the tunnel means "world peace through the unification of English-speaking peoples". But the redirection of the tunnel for the UK film version reflected more than just the current political climate in Europe. In the mid-1930s, Gaumont-British [the production company] became increasingly focused on entering the American market, while at the same time withdrawing from similar European ventures. The futuristic connection of Britain and America through the tunnel ("an artery through which the elixir of life of our two nations flows") can therefore be seen as encapsulating the film company's vision of its own future. The import of Hollywood actors shows the extent to which the tunnel was geared towards the American market. (…) Despite this caveat, the film remains a largely entertaining piece of speculative fiction that is fascinating both for its visualization of the future and for its comments on the present. "

The Movie & Video Guide found the story “disappointing” and stated that the “futuristic buildings are the main focus”.

Halliwell's Film Guide recalled that the film was a "rare example of British science fiction of that time", although it had German roots.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ the film, made in 1935, is set to take place in the future
  2. ↑ In Kellermann's novel, the tunnel construction serves to cross the Atlantic between continental Europe and North America, while here a kind of world control is spoken under Anglo-American leadership
  3. ↑ Analysis on BFI Screenonline
  4. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1367
  5. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 1055

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