La distruzione del mondo

I read about this movie years ago but thinking that no prints existed, only recently looked for a rental copy. It was much better than reviews lead me to believe. The destruction of New York City was quite convincing especially when the earth opened up and the ocean rushed in. The screenwriters were smart not to offer any explanation for the disaster. Perhaps this was due to time and budget constraints. The scientists' bewilderment added to the tension.

The survivors' story was credible even though the lead characters were somewhat stupid. Martin and Claire spent the night in a tunnel knowing full well that armed men were coming for them at first light. They could have easily escaped during the night.

The story had several gaps probably due to lost or deteriorated film. How did Martin become separated from his wife and children? Why did each think the other was dead? The Statue of Liberty was still standing at the end of the storm sequence. Did it survive?

The Italian dialog was distracting and the English subtitles did not convey everything that was spoken. There was something said about Louisiana sinking and New Orleans being flooded. When survivors in the settlement cannot raise anything on the radio, a boy says to an adult, "Now you can be the fire chief". I'm going out on a limb and say the boy is referring to comedian Ed Wynn who portrayed the Texaco Fire Chief on an early radio program. This must have been very confusing to foreign audiences.

The actress who played Claire, Peggy Shannon, was strikingly beautiful with a modern look not normally seen in movies of that period. How sad that she died of alcoholism just 8 years after the movie was released.

I have always wondered about the disappearance of "Deluge". Why for so many years, seemingly since it's release in 1933, this film vanished from the face of the earth. After seeing it, courtesy of the efforts of Mr. Wade Williams & Co., I'm still puzzled, but I have a theory. In 1933, "the code" was enacted that pretty much took care of sex and violence in Hollywood. While not an explicit film by any means, "Deluge" does deal fairly frankly with sexuality, lust and rape. I wonder if RKO discovered they had a film that they could not re-release, much like the fabled lost Warner Bros. comedy "Convention City". It's a shame for, while it is a dated film, I find it quite unique and surprising for it's era and a fairly successful attempt to create something different in an era when films were already becoming cookie cutter by-products of the studio machine (not that many of those cookies aren't tasty, mind you). And even though the only available copy at this writing is dubbed into Italian, I don't find that a hinderance. An excellent job was done in subtitling the film, and much of the film is visual anyway. One thing that is somewhat bothersome: IMDb lists the running time as 70 minutes--the tape's running time is 59 minutes. What's missing?? Something so heinous that even the Italian censors couldn't let it be shown? The mind boggles! By the way, I have recently heard that the French film archive holds a copy of this film as well...I wonder....in Anglais, mais non?

The history of this once-lost classic film (now available on DVD) is fascinating, but it's nothing compared to the film itself.

Running about 70 minutes, this disaster movie gets right to with the destruction of most of the world by earthquakes and tsunamis. Much early footage shows the flooding of New York City and the toppling of skyscrapers. Yes, these are obviously models and yes there is a good deal of rear projection, but just go with it. It's pretty impressive.

After the apocalypse, it seems old mountain areas have been spared and there are survivors. Martin (Sidney Blackmer) has been separated from his wife (Lois Wilson) and kids. Claire (Peggy Shannon) has washed up on a beach and found by a demented loner Jepson (Fred Kohler). There's also a ragtag village in the mountains run by Tom (Matt Moore) and a group of marauders whose main goal seems to be stealing women.

All these disparate people come together after Claire escapes from Jepson and is rescued by Martin. Jepson joins up with the marauders and they go after Martin and Claire. Enter Tom and the villagers.

The ending is a real surprise and raises the question of what laws and rules should survive the Apocalypse and carry over into the New Society. What is man's purpose after civilization has been destroyed? How does man move on? Peggy Shannon and Sidney Blackmer are good in a very understated way. So are Matt Moore and Lois Wilson. This is definitely a must-see for fans of science fiction and disaster movies, but keep in mind the small budget this film was made on. You'll be thinking about this film long after it has ended.

I saw this soon after a print was discovered in an Italian film vault. No one had subtitled it as of yet. The theater, Film Forum, here in New York City, hired an Italian translator to keep the audience up on the dialog and story.

It's remarkable how many films from the past 20 years were prefigured by this film. In a way, the "Day After Tomorrow" could be considered a remake. The destruction of New York is quite harrowing, actually more harrowing then the stupid "Day After Tomorrow". The special effect people orchestrated numerous shots that show masses of people perishing in the collapse of the city. And it's not in that distanced way that removes the human element from the horror. Actors are integrated into the effect work in creative ways. A recent example would be the monster films of Shusuke Kaneko. After the city has completely crumbled, the ground breaks open and the wreckage falls into a crevice. Then a tsunami inundates the remaining ruins! Yikes!

The rest of the film is done in a typical early 30's melodramatic style. Judging from the other comments here, the translator sort of soft-pedaled the racy parts. The film didn't hold up very well here but I think this could very well be the first post-apocalyptic film ever made.

I saw this film in England in 1934 at the age of 16 and was highly impressed with the special effects. Oddly enough Sydney Blackmer played the hero in this although in many other films he was cast in villainous roles. Remember him as the "kindly" neighbour in Rosemary's Baby?

I had read the book only a year or so before seeing the film and was absolutely flabbergasted with the disaster scenes. In view of our knowledge of global warming, a remake might well be highly topical and thought provoking.