The End of the World
About The End of the World
Mine foreman West has two daughters. Dina, engaged to the miner Flint, goes off with the owner, Frank Stoll. Edith loves the sailor Reymers. When word spreads that a comet will strike the Earth, Stoll trades on the panic. On the night of the impact he gathers his rich friends for an orgy. Workers he has cheated storm the house. The comet kills Stoll, Dina, and that crowd. Edith and Reymers are left, and the film ends when they find each other.
Cast & crew
More about The End of the World
August Blom directed Otto Rung’s script. Louis Larsen photographed it, and Axel Bruun designed the sets. Nordisk negative number 1426. The Danish Film Institute lists 1,650 meters of 35mm. Fotorama distributed it. The premiere was April 1, 1916, at the Palads in Copenhagen.
Themes
Background
Halley’s Comet passed in 1910 and frightened many people. The film opened on April 1, 1916, during the First World War, and played to large crowds.
Reviews
Moving Picture World, after the American release, said the spectacle in reels five and six lands harder because of the earlier scenes, and singled out Ebba Thomsen (printed there as Emma Thomsen) and Olaf Fønss.
Look
Louis Larsen shot the film. The comet is showers of sparks and banks of smoke over the location work.
Music
Silent, with Danish intertitles. No composer is credited for the 1916 release.
Preservation
The Danish Film Institute restored the film. A WebM is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Another title is The Flaming Sword. The Danish title is Verdens Undergang.
- Olaf Fønss plays Stoll. Ebba Thomsen plays Dina. Johanne Fritz-Petersen plays Edith. Thorleif Lund plays Flint. Alf Blütecher plays Reymers. Carl Lauritzen plays West.
- K. Zimmerman plays Professor Wissmann. Frederik Jacobsen plays a wandering preacher.
- The Danish Film Institute restored the film and released a DVD in 2006.
Scenes
- Stoll trades while the public panics over the comet.
- His friends sit down to an orgy on the night of the strike.
- The cheated workers break into the house.
- Edith and Reymers meet after the impact.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The End of the World (1916) .webm)
- Danish Film Institute DVD (2006)
