enda
Film

Atlantis

August Blom, Denmark, 1913

114 min.DK/FeatureDrama, Melodrama, AdaptionsSilent films

The biologist von Kammacher is struck by a double misfortune: his wife is taken ill and loses her mind, and his doctoral dissertation is rejected. He travels to Berlin, where he is bewitched by Ingigerd, a young dancer. Impulsively he follows her when she leaves for America. The transatlantic steamer is wrecked, and the two are among the few survivors. In New York, her capriciousness gets increasingly on his nerves, but he does not notice that the sculptress Eva admires him. He flees to a remote mountain cabin, where he suffers a nervous breakdown. Eva helps him rediscover the will to live and love, and he marries her.
Nordisk Film's biggest and most ambitious production, which the historian Erik Ulrichsen called "the first modern film" in 1958. It was the most important Autorenfilm, based as it was on a novel by Gerhart Hauptmann, winner of the 1912 Nobel prize and generally regarded as the greatest living German writer. The novel Atlantis was semi-autobiographical, and Hauptmann insisted that two important roles should be played by the actual people who inspired the characters: Hauptmann had been bewitched by Ida Orloff in 1906-7 when she was in her mid-teens, but her charms do not really register in the film; and Unthan, the armless man, basically plays himself. Hauptmann had described the sinking of a transatlantic liner in a section of the novel that was intially serialized just weeks before the wreck of the Titanic, and the shipwreck scene became the big selling point of the film (prompting accusations of shameless exploitation of the Titanic disaster); it still impresses with its realism and sheer scale. However, Atlantis is really a psychological portrait, showing a man of the modern age who lives through a profound mental crisis. For that reason, it lacks a strong narrative backbone, but it succeeds through Fønss' restrained performance, the beautiful cinematography, and Blom's refined direction.
Basic information Credits Materials
Original title Atlantis
Danish title Atlantis
Director August Blom
Screenplay Karl Ludwig Schröder, Axel Garde
Based on Roman af Gerhart Hauptmann (1912, da. 1913).
Director of Photography Louis Larsen, Johan Ankerstjerne
Appearance Olaf Fønss, Ida Orloff, Frederik Jacobsen, Ebba Thomsen
Production country Denmark
Domestic distribution Fotorama
Technical info 2280 meter, 35 mm, 1,33:1, Black/white, Silent
Danish theatrical release 26.12.1913
Cinemas Palads
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Companies

Production company Nordisk Films Kompagni
Domestic distribution Fotorama

Direction

Direction August Blom
Assistant director Robert Dinesen

Script

Script Karl Ludwig Schröder
Script Axel Garde

Cinematography

Cinematography Louis Larsen
Cinematography Johan Ankerstjerne

Appearance

Dr. Friedrich von Kammacher Olaf Fønss
Ingigerd Hahlstrøm, danserinde Ida Orloff
Dr. Rasmussen Frederik Jacobsen
Eva Burns, billedhuggerinde Ebba Thomsen
Russisk flygtning Alma Hinding
Willy Snyders Torben Meyer
Friedrichs far Cajus Bruun
Appearance Marie Dinesen
Ingigerds far Christian Schrøder
Arthur Stoss, artist Charles Unthan
Stoss' tjener Franz Skondrup
Appearance Svend Bille
Dr. Schmidt Carl Lauritzen
Appearance Bertel Krause
Appearance Thomas P. Hejle
Appearance Albrecht Schmidt
Appearance Oluf Billesborg
Appearance Michael Curtiz
Appearance Musse Kornbeck
Appearance Henny Lauritzen
Appearance Vilhelm Stigaard
Appearance Peter Nielsen
Kaptajn Svend Kornbeck
Appearance Lau Lauritzen Sr.
Dame ved bal Emilie Otterdahl
Appearance Charles Willumsen
Appearance Christian Lange
Appearance Maja Bjerre-Lind
Appearance Lily Frederiksen
Appearance Aage Henvig
Appearance Ingeborg Jensen
Appearance Vera Esbøll
Appearance Birger von Cotta-Schønberg

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Reviews and articles

On the library you can find these articles and revies and other material about the film.
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Program - stumfilm & mikro
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