Joachim Goethal and the Secret of Steel
About Joachim Goethal and the Secret of Steel
The Holland National Steel Foundry has a formula for a new steel. Old Piet Goethal is proud of the works and of his son Joachim. Joachim wants to marry Maria, daughter of the beer seller Alsteen, and she will not take a man without money. A foreign agent offers him cash for the formula. Caught in the act, Joachim runs through the mill, tips a converter, and sets the foundry on fire. Piet tells the owners what his son has done. Joachim is not arrested. He leaves the country and tries to live down the theft in exile.
Cast & crew
More about Joachim Goethal and the Secret of Steel
Alfred Machin wrote and directed the short, released in 1912 as a French-Dutch production. The French title is Le secret de l'acier. Léon Mathot plays Joachim. A surviving copy runs about 18 minutes.
Themes
Making
Machin stages the theft inside the foundry rather than in an office. The converter is both the secret Joachim is selling and the thing he knocks over to get away.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- Piet, not the police, is the one who names Joachim to the foundry owners.
- Maria's father, Alsteen, sells beer. Her condition is money, and the agent is listening.
- The chase ends when Joachim dumps a converter and the shop catches fire.
- He is not jailed. The last title sends him abroad.
Scenes
- Maria tells Joachim she will marry only a man with money.
- The agent buys the steel formula.
- Joachim tips a converter during the chase and the foundry burns.
- Piet reports his son, and Joachim leaves the country.
