a.k.a. Verdens Undergang
company: Nordisk Film Co.
year: 1916
runtime: 77′
country: Denmark
director: August Blom
cast: Olaf Fonss, Ebba Thomson,
Johanne Fritz-Petersen, Alf Blutecher,
Thorleif Lund, Frederick Jacobson,
K. Zimmerman, Carl Lauritzen
writer: Otto Rung
not on home video in the USA
order this film (double feature with A Trip
to Mars, 1918) from the Edition Filmmuseum Shop
Plot: A newly discovered comet enters the Earth’s atmosphere and destroys Europe.
The Danish Film Institute has restored a wealth of silent treasures over the past few years, including the odd 1918 science fiction adventure A Trip to Mars and the Titanic-inspired 1913 drama Atlantis among others, and released them to DVD with both the original Danish and translated English intertitles. DFI’s 2006 restoration of August Blom’s The End of the World is a revelation, showing that cinema’s fascination with destruction on a cosmic scale is almost as old as the medium itself.
Comparisons between Blom’s film, inspired by the devestation of World War I (still raging at the time) and the recent panic surrounding the reappearence of Halley’s Comet in 1910, and Abel Gance’s unfinished La Fin du Monde, which went into production some 12 years later, are too tempting to resist. The basic narratives of both films are quite similar, and involve a young woman stolen from her impoverished lover by a wealthy man who takes advantage of an Earth-threatening crisis to strike it rich in the stock market (which crashes in both as well). Each also ends with a spectacular display of destruction, in both cases caused by the near passage of a comet. Missing here are the hefty dollops of socio-political and religious subtext present in the Gance picture which, though never completed, saw release in France and American in 1931 and 1934 respectively.
Gance credited the 1893 Camille Flammarion science fiction novel La Fin du Monde with inspiring his work, though one can’t help but wonder if he ever saw Blom’s earlier film. On that note, it’s also entirely possible that Blom and writer Otto Rung could have been inspired in part by the Flammarion novel or even some of his odd scientific predictions. In 1910 he was one of the proponents of the idea that poisonous gas from the tail of Halley’s Comet would “impregnate [the Earth's] atmosphere and possibly snuff out all life on the planet” (from an article here). Yikes.
Whoever or whatever inspired which film, The End of the World is a great time regardless. The story concerns a family, a father and two sisters, living in a mining town. Dina (Ebba Thomson) is betrothed to miner Flint (Thorleif Lund), but is whisked from her hometown and into the lap of luxury by the exorbinantly wealthy and devoted Stoll (Olaf Fonss) before they can be married. Her aging father curses her betrayal of the family name, refusing to forgive her transgression even on his death bed. Sister Edith (Johanne Fritz-Peterson) is happier with small town life, and falls for seaman Reymers (Alf Blutecher). Years go by, with Dina living in the city with Stoll, who has become even more successful, and Edith patiently watching as Reymers moves up the chain of command to become First Mate.
Things get complicated when Professor Wisemann, a cousin of Stoll, discovers a new comet and calculates its Earth-bound trajectory. The discovery and its potentially disastrous ramifications cause panic, and the stock market collapses. Stoll, sensing an incredible opporutnity, buys up as many shares as he can, then bribes the editor of The Times into reporting that the comet poses no danger – even as it becomes visible to the naked eye. The stock market rises, Stoll collects, and the couple returns to the mining town for a ritzy party (not nearly so risque as Gance’s upper-class orgy, though there is a floor show) before doomsday. Flint, frustrated with his lower-class lifestyle and still angry with Stoll for stealing his bride-to-be, organizes a mob and attacks the party, tragically killing his beloved Dina in the process. The comet arrives shortly thereafter, unleashing all manner of havoc and killing both Stoll and Flint in dramatic fashion.
The End of the World shifts gears towards the uplifting immediately after the comet’s rampage is concluded. Only Edith and a priest survive from the mining town, though Edith’s lover Reymers has survived at sea. The heartwarming conclusion sees Edith and Reymers reunited, drawn to each other by church bells. Just what future they have in amidst all the devestation is unclear, though the ending image of the couple knealing and looking heavenwards assures us that the humble will be rewarded for their suffering now that all the wicked have perished (okay, so maybe there’s a little religious subtext, but it is the end of the world).
August Blom’s direction is typical of the time period, meaning every scene is captured from a single camera with a bit of horizontal shifting if necessary. The most interesting moments come when Blom is forced off set and on location, as when Stoll is surveying a mine or Reymers is out to sea. It is at these times, under less controlled circumstances, that he and his crew were forced to be more creative with generally excellent results. Credit is certainly due for Blom’s apt handling of the lengthy destruction sequences here. The production’s budget was obviously of the higher order, and most of the effects on display are of the full-scale variety. Buildings burn, fire rains from the sky, and the sea rises to engulf the low ground, with people scurrying in all directions in an attempt to survive. It’s all rather impressive, even in this age of no-holds-barred computer wizardry.
The Danish Film Institute’s restoration of The End of the World is excellent, far better than I would have anticipated for an obscure film of this vintage. Presented on a double-feature DVD with the strange but loveable A Trip to Mars, The End of the World is transferred in the original full frame ratio with dual-language Danish and English intertitles and fine piano accompaniment by Ronen Thalmay. The disc’s PAL encoding may prove troublesome for some, but all of you readers under the NTSC standard should have a region and code-free DVD setup by now anyway (trust me, if I can afford it you can afford it). There are no extras, but this package is well worth picking up for the two films alone.
The End of the World was a wonderful surprise for this reviewer, who hasn’t seen nearly as many silent films as he rightfully should have at this point. It may be melodramatic and antiquated and even a little bit silly, but its apocalyptic end reel still makes for compelling viewing over 90 years later. Highly recommended.
