Atlantis

ATLANTIS. 1913

Director: August Blom

Reviewed by Paghat the Ratgirl



Atlantis is a dull masterpiece of Danish silent cinema, criticized in its day for being released too close to the time of the sinking of the Titanic, exploiting an international catastrophe.

Based on a novel by German neo-Romantic Gerhard Hauptman, it regards an ocean liner that sank in the Atlantic with survivors encountering a seabed Atlantis. Hauptman conceived of the story during his own ocean-crossing to America, accompanied by Austrian operetta diva Ida Orloff & circus acrobat Charles Unthan, both of whom ended up in the film, along with Danish matinee idol Olaf Fonss.

Filmed off the coast of New Zealand with the best cast of the day, including bald-headed comedian Torben Meyer who was later a favorite of Hollywood director Preston Sturges, & a Hungarian named Mihaly Kertesz who was to become well known in Hollywood as Michael Curtiz. Charles Unthan is the Armless Man who plays cards with his toes! With so much potentially in its favor, it's strange how uninteresting it manages to be.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl



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