La tragedia della miniera

Regarded by many as the highpoint of German socialist film-making this fourteenth film of G. W. Pabst is a companion piece to his earlier 'Westfront 1918'.

Based upon the mining disaster at Courrieres in 1906, the director has cleverly chosen to set his film in the mining communities on the Lorraine/Saar border just after the end of the first World War which enables him to show the tensions and mutual distrust between top dog France and underdog Germany.

What strikes one most about Pabst's film are the claustrophobic mine galleries which have been built from scratch in the studio by Erno Metzner and which facilitate the roving camera and effective lighting of the legendary Fritz Arno Wagner whilst Pabst's mastery of crowd scenes is put to stunning use in its depiction of mass anguish.

Viewers will no doubt spot Alexander Granach who was to flee Germany for America and Ernst Busch, an avowed Communist who survived despite being on the Nazi hit list.

This sober, restrained masterpiece with its naively optimistic plea for international brotherhood, although critically well received, was unsurprisingly disdained by both French and German audiences.

The final, symbolic scene in which the iron barrier between the French and German mines is re-established in the presence of stern looking military officials is not only grotesquely ironic but gives dreadful note of the horrors to come.

Kameradschaft (1931)

*** (out of 4)

German propaganda film which is based on a true incident that happened in 1906 but the film updates the setting to current day 1931. Tensions are running high between French and German miners until the French suffer an explosion and several miners are trapped underground. The German's send in two rescue teams to try and save the French. This is a highly impressive film but like a lot of German films in this period, there's more style than substance, which in the end keeps it from being a great film. The visual style of the film is terrific and it makes the film come off very realistic. The director does a great job inside the mine and the claustrophobic sense we get is very strong. There are countless great shots in the film but I feel they get in the way of the story, which at times drags in certain spots. After the explosion happens there's a good fifteen-minutes of downtime before the rescue team shows up and these down moments come off pretty boring. Outside of that the film is very good and it was also interesting seeing how miners worked back in the 1930s.

This, the finest achievement from Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Social Realism period is based upon a tragedy in early 1906 that claimed the lives of nearly 1100 French miners as a coal dust explosion deep in mines at Courrieres in northern France took place after a fire had smouldered for three weeks, eventually releasing deadly pit gas that brought about the fatalities. Estimable designer Erno Metzner creates stark sets that simulate the tragedy, providing a perception of reality, augmented by matchless sound editing, with the only music being produced by integral orchestras during the beginning and ending portions of a work for which aural effects possess equal importance with the eminent director's fascinating visual compositions. Pabst's manner of "invisible editing" that segues action from shot to shot through movements of players proves to be smoothly integrated within this landmark film that also showcases sublime cinematography utilizing cameras mounted upon vehicles, enabling the director to shift amid scenes without having a necessity of cutting. Although the work's cardinal theme relates to Socialist dogma, the unforgettable power of this film is held in its details, born of Pabst's nonpareil skill at weaving numerous plot lines into a cinema tapestry that stirs one to admiration for German rescue squads of whom their Fatherland is greatly proud while no less despairing of disastrous losses to the families of French victims; certainly, a seminal triumph fully as stimulating today to a cineaste as it was at the time of its first release.

Based on an event which occurred in 1906 concerning a mine disaster in France, the story has been updated to shortly after the Great War with the disaster now occurring in a mine that is French on one side and German on the other. Overall the picture serves as an anti-war, for co-operation between nations, message. This message is not laid on thick and cleverly forms part of the story. It is though, brought home very accurately and succinctly in the final scene.

One would hardly think that the scenery of "darn the pits" would be of much entertainment value, but this story is probably one of the first in the 'disaster genre'. The underground mine sets have been realistically re-created and one certainly gets a sense of feeling claustrophobic from watching what occurs there. It would appear that a lot of research has gone into the making of this film as everything about it seems natural and starkly real. A further emphasis on this realism is that the Germans speak German and the French speak French.

There are some who say that there were non-professional actors in this film, and the fact that they do so well in their parts conveying the very awfulness of their job has probably brought forth this opinion. The script too is not labored, and the dialogue only gives punctuation when necessary to the action. The direction by Pabst can only be described as brilliant. His crowd scenes are well composed, and the camera is given much fluidity whilst the cutting appears seamless.

In short, this is a dramatic film that looks totally real, has a high degree of excitement throughout, is well acted and beautifully photographed.

Valliant effort to use a mining catastrophe as a vehicle to pronounce this director's distaste for war. The audience not only learns a great deal about early mining rescue procedures but, we learn that Europeans at the interval between WWI and WWII, had concerning pacifists(for lack of a better term). The speeches given by both representatives of each country at the end of the film, are inspiring given the time. Although the revised edition, through the transfer technology of early foreign films, "cuts-off characters heads" at times, this film holds it's own in many different aspects. Character analysis, lighting techniques, historical content and a scenario that has tested and inspired many a writer and filmmaker.

Pabst went on to Direct and put to screen Weil & Brecht's "Three Penny Opera", starring the original star, Lotte Lenya.