Company Xarifa

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Movie
Original title Company Xarifa
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1954
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Hans Hass
script Hans Hass
production Hans Hass
music Arthur Benjamin ,
Muir Mathieson
camera Konstantin Tschet ,
Jimmy Hodges ,
Hans Hass
cut Peter Graham Scott
occupation

Company Xarifa is the title of a film that was shot between August 1953 and April 1954 during Hans Hass's Galapagos expedition with his research vessel Xarifa . The work of the expedition members on board and under water, their novel findings form the material for the documentary, which is embedded in a game plot. Lotte Hass is an underwater model and leading actress.

The film was shown in Austria and Switzerland under the title Giants of the Sea , alluding to the plot of the film, the search for sperm whales .

action

Research vessel XARIFA 2007 in the port of Monaco.

The sailing yacht Xarifa lies between the palm islands of the Caribbean Sea . Expedition leader Hass explains to his staff how to use the new diving equipment, and then they jointly venture into the still untouched depths of the sea. Coral reefs are explored and aggressive sharks fended off. The divers carry mirrors to the bottom of the sea to see what the fish are doing when they see their faces.

As a diver, Lotte Hass is the problem child of the expedition. She always puts herself in danger with her self-will. Sharks run past her legs, she doesn't notice. She also wants to do experiments with marine animals. In a book she reads that you can hypnotize animals by holding a glittering ball over their eyes. She attaches a colorful glass ball to a stick and disappears into the sea. She tries out her new art on a trumpet fish and apparently the trumpet fish rolls its eyes and becomes rigid.

Change of scene: Hass and his men sit in a coral reef and test the effect of vibrations that are emitted by an underwater loudspeaker. The vibrations are designed to attract sharks. Instead of the vibrations, a strange shouting is heard. The radio operator received a short wave message from home that Eibl-Eibesfeldt , a young animal psychologist, has become a father. The radio station in Germany directed the screaming of the newborn into the Caribbean Sea and it is this sound that comes from the underwater loudspeaker. The radio operator himself swims with a bottle of champagne on the sea floor and congratulates. Eibl-Eibesfeldt is out of humor. He just said that the tone sounds like kicking a cat's tail.

Weeks have passed. The viewer got to know the joys and sorrows of the expedition team, the experiences of everyday life, the ever-threatening dangers, the many surprising experiences on the seabed. But the coral reefs haven't really been explored yet. With 5000 watt spotlights, the divers swim on the ocean floor and colors emerge from the blue twilight that no living being has seen before.

The secret wish of the expedition leader Hass is to swim to the largest marine predators, the legendary sperm whales, and to film them. He hopes that he will encounter these sea giants on the Galapagos Islands and accepts the dangerous hammerhead and tiger sharks that make these remote coasts unsafe. Lotte's secret wish is to visit the legendary Coconut Island , because she has an old map that allegedly shows the hiding place of a treasure. While the "Xarifa" sails with full sails into the Pacific and the equator is baptized in colorful disguise according to sailor tradition, she sees in a dream the immense treasures that await her.

The expedition experiences an animal paradise on the lonely Galapagos Islands. Sea lions dance around the divers in a graceful game and flocks of magnificent panther rays glide silently by. The sea is full of strange animals, only the whales are missing! Lotte thinks these are definitely further north. Further north ... at the treasure island of Kokos.

The die is cast. The Xarifa heads north. All expedition members secretly look for the treasure in the dense jungle of the remote island. It looks scary underwater here. Schools of hammerhead sharks make this area unsafe. Hass and his men find a wreck. They bring down the big headlights and invade the interior of the ship ...

Then a scream sounds from the masthead: Whales have been sighted! The crew on the ocean floor is notified and immediately sets off to pursue them. Another boat is sailing along the coast. Accompanied by the trusty "Xenophon", Lotte wants to find the treasure alone. Regardless of the surf, she swims into the depths alone and into a huge grotto, while a pack of hammerhead sharks follows her.

Hass and his men have lowered a microphone into the sea and hear strange noises. That must be the voice of the whales! And then the giants appear near the boat. Hass and Hodges are already in the water with their cameras and swim towards the animals. You have no idea of ​​the danger Lotte is in. Hammerhead and tiger sharks have gathered in front of the grotto and will no longer leave it to the surface. Your device is almost out of oxygen.

Xenophon, who sees the sharks from the boat, rushes back to the Xarifa and calls the whale crew over the radio. But hatred doesn't listen to the calls of its comrades in the boat. The wish of his life has come true. In daring action, he brings his camera right in front of the monsters' mouths, from which a bloodcurdling creaking sound can be heard. Finally the boat approaches the rock face where Lotte dived at a roaring speed. Lotte is at the end of her tether. She can no longer hold off the sharks. Everything seems lost. Hatred succeeds in diving down to Lotte after a few deep breaths and driving the sharks back. Exhausted, Hans and Lotte Hass swim up.

The Xarifa has set sail. The expedition goal has been reached. The "Company Xarifa" is returning home.

background

Hans Hass succeeded in bringing in the German film distributor Herzog-Film in Munich to finance the Xarifa's first expedition. However, the distribution made it a condition that no conventional, documentary expedition film should be made on the trip, but a feature film that would appeal to a larger audience in the cinemas and thus bring in the costs more quickly. However, this was a difficult task for Hass, because such a film project can no longer be solved exclusively with the 16 mm handheld film cameras that he had previously used.

Since the film was to be the first German Technicolor production, it was not only a technical problem, but also a personal problem. Because nobody knew the new film material well enough to be able to say what influence the tropical climate and expedition conditions would have on its quality. Hass hired Konstantin Tschet to work as a cameraman for both surface and underwater shots, Jimmy Hodges, a well-known and experienced diver and underwater filmmaker . Hodges died shortly before the end of the expedition while diving off Bonaire , presumably from oxygen poisoning, and was buried on the island.

The film was shot with several film cameras. Two "Vinten-Hodges" cameras were used under water, the film recordings over water were made with cameras from Arnold & Richter , the world-famous "Arriflex".

A major technical problem was the question of suitable underwater film lighting. It was solved as follows: Two generators with 30 kW each on board the Xarifa provided the necessary energy. A 300 and 500 meter long power cable, which could also be put together and weighed more than 1000 kg, ended in two switch and distribution boxes. These were installed in the dinghy and distributed the current in additional 120 meters long, thinner cables, at the end of which were special film spotlights for underwater use of 3 and 5 kilowatts. In order to be able to handle the heavy supply cables better under water, they were provided with floats made of glass buoys at intervals of 6 meters. The extremely high light output of this technically and user-intensive underwater lighting showed the colors of the tropical coral reefs for the first time.

Since it was supposed to be an expedition film with a clear feature film character, all expedition participants had to take on roles and speak dialogues. Hans Hass followed the lender's request for dialogues to such an extent that he incorporated underwater dialogues. Speaking with the breathing apparatus used at the time was not possible underwater, but the actors pretended to be. So that everything seemed real, the texts were determined before the dive, which the individual divers mumbled into their mouthpieces in an incomprehensible manner. Later the text was spoken again on land into the microphone in an understandable way. These were then later alienated and mixed in the studio in “underwater language” and added back to the film.

The music for the individual scenes was written by Arthur Benjamin and played by the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Muir Mathieson . It is precisely this soulful music that accompanies some passages such as the dance of the sea lions, giving the viewer an even better idea of ​​the beauty of the underwater world. The theme music of the film was supposed to act like a fanfare signal and herald the beginning of a new age of underwater research.

Premiere dates

  • Düsseldorf : November 4, 1954; Residenz Theater (world premiere of the German version)
  • Vaduz : November 10, 1954
  • Berlin : November 12, 1954
  • Basel : November 22, 1954
  • London : December 9, 1954; Empire Theater (World premiere of the English version)
  • Vienna : December 21, 1954, Urania

literature

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