Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2006 Sommario / Contents
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Marya shares his feelings, and decides to return with him in order to bring<br />
the wisdom of the Martians to the backward Earthlings.<br />
This lavishly produced space-travel picture is something of a milestone in<br />
the science-fiction genre. The contemporary fascination with aviation is<br />
evident: the spaceship has wings and a propeller, and the members of the<br />
crew are clad in leather aviator outfits.While the druid-like Martians may<br />
seem unintentionally comic, the film’s ideas of a utopian ideal world are<br />
quite fascinating from the viewpoint of cultural history. Ole Olsen was<br />
credited as co-author of the screenplay, and both he and the well-known<br />
writer Sophus Michaëlis hoped that the film would speak to the hearts of<br />
spectators and inspire them with “ideal sentiments”, particularly pacifism.<br />
Contemporary Danish reviewers, however, mocked the earnest silliness of<br />
the film, and unhesitatingly pointed out its many shortcomings in<br />
comparison to The Birth of a Nation, which had its Copenhagen premiere<br />
one month after Himmelskibet.– CASPER TYBJERG<br />
Prog. 7 Catastrofi/Catastrophe<br />
KRIGSBILLEDER [Immagini di guerra / War Pictures] (Nordisk<br />
Films Kompagni, DK 1914)<br />
Regia/dir: ?; f./ph: ?; 35mm, 700 m., 38’ (16 fps), Danish Film Institute.<br />
Senza didascalie / No titles.<br />
Attualità belliche <strong>del</strong> 1914. Una serie di reportage girati per conto<br />
<strong>del</strong>l’esercito tedesco nel nord <strong>del</strong>la Francia e nell’est <strong>del</strong>la Prussia. La<br />
Nordisk, che aveva una reputazione speciale in Germania, si teneva in<br />
equilibrio tra la sua posizione di società con sede in un paese neutrale<br />
e la collaborazione con il paese con cui aveva i principali rapporti<br />
d’affari. Kriegsbilder era il titolo tedesco di queste attualità. / War<br />
actualities, 1914. A series of reportage films produced on behalf of the<br />
German army in northern France and East Prussia. Nordisk had a special<br />
standing in Germany, and walked a thin line between being a company<br />
based in a neutral country, and collaborating with the country in which they<br />
had most of their business. The films’ German title was Kriegsbilder.<br />
THOMAS C. CHRISTENSEN<br />
VERDENS UNDERGANG [La fine <strong>del</strong> mondo] (The End of the<br />
World / The Flaming Sword) (Nordisk Films Kompagni, DK 1916)<br />
Regia/dir: August Blom; scen: Otto Rung; f./ph: Louis Larsen; scg./des:<br />
Axel Bruun; cast: Olaf Fønss (Frank Stoll), Carl Lauritzen (West), Ebba<br />
Thomsen (Dina West), Johanne Fritz-Petersen (Edith West), Thorleif<br />
Lund (Flint), Alf Blütecher (Reymers), Frederik Jacobsen (predicatore<br />
itinerante/itinerant preacher), K. Zimmerman (Prof. Wissmann);<br />
première: 1.4.1916; 35mm, 1525 m., 74’ (18 fps), Danish Film Institute.<br />
Digitally restored in 2005 from a preservation master positive.<br />
Didascalie in danese e inglese / Danish & English intertitles.<br />
West, caposquadra <strong>del</strong>la miniera, ha due figlie, la bionda Edith e la<br />
bruna Dina. Edith si innamora <strong>del</strong> marinaio Reymers, mentre Dina<br />
62<br />
scappa con il capitalista senza scrupoli Stoll. Quando si sparge la voce<br />
che una cometa è in rotta di collisione con la Terra, Stoll sfrutta la<br />
situazione per fare quattrini sul mercato azionario. Alla vigilia<br />
<strong>del</strong>l’impatto con la cometa, raduna poi gli amici per una grande orgia,<br />
ma gli operai infuriati assaltano la sua bella villa, istigati dal fidanzato<br />
respinto di Dina. Questi, Stoll e la ragazza muoiono. Dal cielo piove<br />
fuoco ed i mari sommergono la terra. Il pianeta è in rovina.<br />
Sopravvivono solo in due, Edith e Reymers: il film si conclude con il<br />
loro miracoloso ricongiungimento.<br />
Ispirato alla paura suscitata nel 1910 dalla cometa di Halley, questo<br />
film era chiaramente rivolto al pubblico <strong>del</strong> periodo bellico, in cui il<br />
vecchio ordine stava venendo meno. È molto convincente, grazie<br />
all’eccellente recitazione ed all’uso intelligente <strong>del</strong>le ambientazioni. Il<br />
lavoro <strong>del</strong>la macchina da presa è di prim’ordine; tutto il film è<br />
caratterizzato dall’accurata ed elegante composizione <strong>del</strong>le immagini.<br />
Creare in maniera convincente le scene <strong>del</strong> disastro che distruggerà<br />
la Terra dev’essere stata per Blom ed i suoi tecnici la sfida più grande.<br />
La tecnologia degli effetti speciali era pressoché inesistente e le<br />
risorse finanziarie non erano illimitate, ma le scene <strong>del</strong> cataclisma<br />
sono sorprendentemente efficaci. Scintille infuocate piovono dal cielo,<br />
avvolgendo rapidamente tutto in una cappa di fumo. Laddove questa è<br />
ovviamente una maniera economica di mostrare il disastro, l’effetto è<br />
misterioso, disturbante ed adeguatamente apocalittico. Soprattutto, il<br />
finale, che nel riassunto può sembrare ridicolmente macchinoso, è<br />
drammaticamente adeguato e davvero commovente. – CASPER TYBJERG<br />
A mine foreman, West, has two daughters, the fair Edith and the dark<br />
Dina. Edith falls in love with ship’s mate Reymers, while Dina runs away<br />
with the unscrupulous capitalist Frank Stoll. When the rumour spreads<br />
that a comet is on a collision course with Earth, Stoll exploits the situation<br />
to make a killing on the stock market. On the eve of the comet’s impact,<br />
Stoll gathers his friends for a great orgy, but enraged workers storm his<br />
grand villa, egged on by Dina’s jilted ex-fiancé. He, Stoll, and Dina all<br />
perish. Fire rains down from the sky, and the seas flood the land.The Earth<br />
is laid waste. Only two survive, Edith and Reymers, and the film ends with<br />
their miraculous reunion.<br />
Inspired by the fear evoked by Halley’s Comet in 1910, this film was clearly<br />
addressed to a public in an age of war, when the old order was collapsing.<br />
It carries great conviction, thanks to excellent acting and clever use of<br />
locations. The camerawork is first-class; throughout, the film’s images are<br />
carefully and elegantly composed. To create scenes of earth-shattering<br />
disaster that would carry conviction must have been the greatest challenge<br />
for Blom and his technicians. Special-effects technology was practically nonexistent,<br />
and financial resources were not unlimited, but the scenes of the<br />
cataclysm are surprisingly effective. Fiery sparks rain down from above,<br />
quickly shrouding everything in a pall of smoke.While this is obviously an<br />
economical solution to the problem of showing the disaster, the effect is<br />
eerie, unsettling, and convincingly apocalyptic. Most important of all, the<br />
ending, which in summary may sound preposterously contrived, is in fact<br />
dramatically fitting and genuinely moving. – CASPER TYBJERG