Atlantis (1913) User Reviews

Not exactly a sinking ship, but ...

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 7/10 · 20 August 2007]

I saw 'Atlantis' at the opening weekend of the Cinema Muto festival in Sacile, Italy, in October 2006. Several other IMDb reviewers have commented (incorrectly) that this 1913 film was inspired by the Titanic disaster of the previous year, and have also commented (correctly) about the physical ampleness and ineptitude of the exotic dancer portrayed by Ida Orlov. I shall address both of those points.

'Atlantis' was originally a novel by German author Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946), who received the 1912 Nobel Prize for Literature. One section of this novel describes the sinking of a huge ocean liner in the middle of the Atlantic, with great loss of lives. Hauptmann's novel was published (in serial form) a few weeks BEFORE the real-life Titanic disaster, which isn't such an amazing coincidence: steamships were still the primary form of transoceanic travel; compromises on safety -- such as an insufficiency of lifeboats, and a lack of lifeboat drills -- were commonplace, and many people felt that an eventual disaster was inevitable. When the film version of 'Atlantis' went into production, shortly AFTER the Titanic's sinking, this film's producers were aware of the similarity between fiction and fact ... but they were also aware (unlike modern viewers) that Hauptmann's novel was still in the bookstalls at the time, still being read (in 1913, Hauptmann was considered Germany's greatest living novelist) and they were confident that most film-goers in 1913 would know that this movie was based on material written BEFORE the Titanic's fatal voyage.

'Atlantis' was the Nordisk film studio's most expensive and ambitious production, billed as an 'Autorenfilm': an 'author-film' adapted from a recognised work of literature. Hauptmann's novel was partly autobiographical, and his contract with Nordisk stipulated that two roles in the film must be cast with the actual people who had inspired those characters in his novel. Hauptmann had enjoyed an erotic relationship with Ida Orlov in 1906/7, when she had been a teenage cabaret dancer. (Hauptmann was 28 years her senior.) In 'Atlantis', Orlov plays an erotic dancer but fails to convey whatever bewitched Hauptmann seven years earlier on; still, Nordisk were forced to cast her in order for this movie to be made.

The other inspirational figure here is more interesting. Carl (Charles) Unthan (1848-1929) was born without arms, and from early childhood he used his bare feet as hands. From the 1870s onward he toured Europe as a concert artiste, not only playing a violin with his unshod feet (wearing open-toed socks) but reportedly even replacing and tuning the violin's strings onstage. After the Great War, this armless man visited Germany's military hospitals to assure the soldiers that loss of a limb need not be insurmountable. (In Chaplin's film 'Limelight', set in roughly this same period, Chaplin's character Calvero makes an oblique reference to Unthan.) In 'Atlantis', Unthan demonstrates his armless dexterity but is assisted by a younger attendant (Frantz Skondrup). According to Unthan's memoir -- wittily titled 'Das Pediskript' -- when he was younger and more supple, he refused to let anyone be his 'hands'. Unthan was in his sixties when he filmed 'Atlantis': he's still handsome and poised here, and his performance is fascinating. It's a shame that Unthan -- sort of a reverse Johnny Eck -- was well past middle age when movies arrived; he could have had a career as a film actor! It would be fascinating to see Unthan perform in a film similar to Tod Browning's 'The Unknown'.

SYNOPSIS AND SPOILERS: The protagonist of 'Atlantis' is Friedrich von Kammacher, a surgeon. His wife (Lily Frederiksen) becomes insane and bed-ridden when his life's work (a dissertation) is rejected. He flees to Berlin, where he is seduced by Ingigerd, an erotic dancer. Strangely compelled by her, von Kammacher abandons his past life and he accompanies Ingigerd to America aboard the ocean liner 'Atlantis'. (Why would anyone name a ship for a land mass that SANK?) When the ship is wrecked in mid-Atlantic, von Kammacher and Ingigerd are among the few survivors brought to New York. An armless man (guess who) assists Ingigerd in her showbiz career, but von Kammacher is now estranged from her. Depressed by all that's happened (and I don't much blame him), von Kammacher flees to a remote mountain cabin. But the beautiful sculptress Eva Burns admires him (though I can't imagine why). She follows von Kammacher into the hinterlands; they fall in love ... but von Kammacher has conveniently discovered a medicine which will cure his wife. He rushes back to Denmark. The end.

An alternate ending was shown in Russian cinemas, with von Kammacher dying. For once, I agree with the Russians.

'Atlantis' is an ambitious film, fatally compromised by the casting of Ida Orlov. Although she is playing a character allegedly inspired by her own younger self, she quite fails here to demonstrate the erotic qualities which had originally intoxicated the author of this tosh. A further flaw is the casting of Olaf Fønss as von Kammacher: Fønss is handsome and brooding, but he fails to convey the range of emotions which von Kammacher experiences. Worse, von Kammacher is simply not a very sympathetic protagonist: he shows no qualms about abandoning any woman who is no longer useful to him, yet he seems to feel that women should accept him (and love him) as he is. I was intrigued to see future film director Michael Curtiz in this film's supporting cast. I'll rate 'Atlantis' 7 out of 10.

The travels of a sympathetic character

[gkbazalo · 7/10 · 1 May 2002]

The idea of a 1913 full length feature film from Denmark intrigued me and I was pleasantly surprised. The melodrama records the events in the life of a somber, but sympathetic researcher, starting in Europe and ending in New York. The sinking of an ocean line, a la Titanic, is well done. The acting is restrained and the plot coherent and interesting. Recommended for silent movie fans.

Epic

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 7 February 2009]

The year 1913 was pivotal for the emergence of feature-length films on both sides of the Atlantic. The major film producing nations released some of the most seminal works of the era. "The Student of Prague" in Germany and "David Copperfield" in Britain were, like "Atlantis", films based on established literature. France's Film d'Art studio continued to produce filmed plays such as the prior year's "Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth" (Queen Elizabeth). Sweden's premiere director Victor Sjöström made "Ingeborg Holm". Russian director Yevgeni Bauer completed "Sumerki zhenskoi dushi" (Twilight of a Woman's Soul). Italians began making the historical epics, such as "Quo Vadis?" and "The Last Days of Pompeii", which would be so popular and influential to America, including to D.W. Griffith. In America, "Traffic in Souls" was released, and Griffith was finishing "Judith of Bethulia".

"Atlantis" was one of the longest and most expensive epics to date; in this regard, only a very few Italian films from around the same time could compare. "Atlantis" contains some of the most interesting elements from any film before "The Birth of a Nation" that I've seen, but it also includes many problems associated with early films, some of which were peculiarly Danish. Among the good is the briskly edited and well photographed shipwreck sequence, which included the sinking of a real ship. For that alone, I recommend this film.

Additionally, there are some interesting scenes of contemporary Berlin and New York. They resemble the early actuality films of the Lumière brothers and other early filmmakers. Viewers may notice that some people gawk at the camera in these street scenes, demonstrating that they were not paid extras. Director August Blom and cinematographer Johan Ankerstjerne (the same man who would later photograph Benjamin Christensen's "Häxan" (1922)) create double exposure shots for dreams. In another scene, a cabin room shakes during the disaster. There are also some lovely sunset shots, and the Danish Film Institute reconstruction is very sharp, with some very good and appropriate reconstructed tinting and toning.

Now, this film also has its drawbacks, which are significant. Mostly, the narrative is extremely dull. Unfortunately, this appears to be a prevalent case with Danish films preceding those by Benjamin Christensen and Carl Theodor Dreyer. I don't just mean the story, either; the narrative structure is plodding and non-linear in that the plot often wanders into superfluous and uninteresting directions. Of the eight Danish films I've commented on from before 1913, almost all are of the sensational circus genre. Further research testifies that this was the predominant type of picture produced in Denmark at the time. "Atlantis", an autorenfilm (author's film), is a departure from these previous films in story and subject matter in most respects, except for the monkey and the armless man, both of which serve no narrative purpose. Moreover, there's the multiple women problem that typically besets the male protagonists (this film's lead abandons his institutionalized wife, chases after a dancer, is "cured" by another woman, and also has a fleeting moment with a Russian Jewess).

In addition to the film's narrative problems, there's the abominable performance by the miscast Ida Orlov as the dancer who the protagonist desires. Director Blom doesn't help matters, either, with the especially long, static and boring scenes of her lounging on the ship, with her pet monkey, and flanked by suitors. There's also the embarrassing stage dance. Blom often placed theatrical acts in his films, including to much better effect in the short film "Desdemona" (For Åbent Tæppe) (1912), as well as in "The Ballet Dancer" (Balletdanserinden) (1911). Some scenes, such as static long shots that last for extended lengths of time, are rather characteristic of the era and, thus, quite dated. Nevertheless, I consider "Atlantis" one of the best feature-length films made before 1915.

A final note to those curious in this film because of Titanic or the Atlantis civilization myth: "Atlantis" is an adaptation of Gerhart Hauptmann's novel of the same name, which was published a month or so before the Titanic disaster. Obviously, one can make plenty of comparisons between the fictional and historic events. Most of this film isn't about an ocean liner disaster, though. The title "Atlantis", in the film, refers to a very brief dream scene the protagonist has during the shipwreck, where he imagines he is in the lost city of Atlantis. Atlantis appears as a village above water, and double exposure photography is used to dreamlike effect.

ATLANTIS (August Blom, 1913) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 5 April 2007]

The first time I ever heard of this movie was while reading a lengthy online interview with noted film preservationist David Shephard wherein he named it as his favorite film but, having now watched it for myself, frankly I was quite disappointed. ATLANTIS is inspired by a book which had anticipated the Titanic tragedy - although, as depicted here, the shipboard section only takes about half-an-hour (occurring mid-way through the proceedings) of this 114-minute film; essentially. these scenes aren't badly done but the static camera-work muffles much opportunity for suspense and excitement!

The film opens in decidedly unusual fashion with a moving depiction of a mental case, but this is soon followed by what has to be one of the silliest dance numbers ever put on film, as the husband of the aforementioned patient goes around the world to rethink his situation and bafflingly falls for the resistible charms of the chubby ballet performer, ending up with her on a ship that collides with a wrecked vessel due to thick fog! The husband is, understandably perhaps, a rather morose fellow, going from place to place - Berlin, Paris, New York, and eventually ending holed up in a mountaintop cabin - and from woman to woman without ever acquiring happiness; as it turned out, some of the film's best scenes are those depicting the bustling N.Y.C. life of the the 1910s. ATLANTIS is, however, full of even more irrelevant bits, none more so than the exhibition of a real-life 'armless wonder' (14 years prior to THE UNKNOWN, I might add!) which, while in itself would make for a fascinating short subject, here it proves merely an overlong distraction. What's more, the title of the film is misleading because, while the main character supposedly dreams himself in the famed underwater city (prior to the sinking of the ship), the scenes take place above ground and are extremely brief to boot!

Thankfully, the occasional visual aestheticism of the film is preserved by the generally good quality of the print on hand and its transfer to DVD and one only needs to take a look at the ragged excerpt from a Japanese print included as a supplement to appreciate the sheer amount of work that went into restoring the film. Other supplementary features on this Danish Film Institute disc are an alternate tragic ending devised for the Russian market and an excerpt from a 1914 film co-directed by Blom and Holger-Madsen (two individual sci-fi films by these directors - THE END OF THE WORLD [1916] and A TRIP TO MARS [1918] respectively - were subsequently paired on DVD by the same outfit and which I've just watched myself).

Missed a bit from the novel

[sb-47-608737 · 7/10 · 16 May 2018]

This movie is supposed to be based on a semi-autobiographical drama of the author (Hauptman).. While dramatisation, he has modified quite a few aspects, the poet dramatist Hauptmann has become a Bacteriologist ( Kammacher) and the estranged wife Marie has become insane Angelique.

One of the parts, supposedly forced on by Hauptmann, as a precondition for allowing the drama to be made into a movie was of the un-armed virtuoso Stoss (played by the real life armless virtuoso (Charles Unthan) was extraneous to the narrative, but then it made me aware of the person, and his genius, so I won't bicker on that.

The other part, or rather the actress, that had been forced on the movie, was the cabaret performer Hahlstroem (Orloff), who was the real life flame of Hauptmann for some time.

While changing the actual story to the screen-play, there were some changes made, and that were actually to the detriment of the story. had that been kept to the original, it could have been a far better one.

Despite her bouts of insanity, the hero, Kammacher, loved his wife, Angelique, and he had gone to US, in search of a cure. That aspect had been glossed over, and hence the shock, at the death of Angelique becomes strange. In between his infatuations with Orloff doesn't contradict his love (the opening Spider and moth dance had already delineated that). I wonder how Orloff, it being her real life narrative too, agreed to do the part, which completely lacks sympathy. Though the role wasn't of a spider, more of a social butterfly. In real life too, Hauptmann was attached to his wife Marie, and tried to reconcile, after his affair, not with Orlofff but with his would be second wife, Margaret, became known and she walked away on him.

Had it been handled a bit better, it would have been a master piece. Along with the above, and a few more, disconsonant factors, it also lacked pacing. Some of the reviewers had mentioned it to be slow.I will agree to a certain extent. It was slow at wrong places. Where it should have been slow, to build up the narrative, it went through too fast. For example Eva's character was never properly build up.

Over all, it isn't a bad movie for 1913, in fact it is quite above average, but missed, by just a few notches, to become a masterpiece.

Labeled One of the First Modern Films

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 12 May 2021]

Riding on the heels of the Titanic tragedy, Denmark's Nordisk Film "Atlantis," released in December 1913, eighteen months after the British boat's sinking, brought audiences realistic images of the real ocean calamity. The Danish producers denied the correlation, claiming their film was based on a Gerhart Hauptmann novel published pre-dating the Titanic launch by a month in 1912. But the popularity of the film, with its enactment of a passenger boat being evacuated in the middle of the ocean with great loss of life, could easily be directly linked to the Titanic.

"Atlantis" has a back story of a border-line insane husband of a dying wife who seeks respite in his travels, only to find love on a trans-Atlantic passenger boat. The liner Roland hits a half-submerged ship (not an iceberg) and sinks. "Atlantis," named after a dream our protagonist has right before the strike, brought the moving images of scrambling passengers loading into lifeboats or diving into the frigid waters to save themselves like no other "Titanic" film produced before. The film was so believable Norway banned it from being played citing poor taste in profiting from the liner tragedy a year earlier.

"Atlantis" eventually became Nordisk Films' most popular movie and was labeled a masterpiece by several reviewers, notably one film historian who was so bold to call it "one of the first modern movies." Besides the exciting 30-minute sequence of the sinking and rescue of the passengers, highlights include B-Roll of New York City pre-World War One and a lively exhibition of an armless entertainer who opens a bottle of wine on stage and pours it into glasses using his feet.

Future director of "Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce" Michael Curtiz, listed as Mihaly Kertesz in the film as the main character's friend, was also an assistant director helping the production move along.

How do you review a film over a century old?

[vvanpo · 7/10 · 6 September 2020]

***Some spoilers to render this review a little entertaining***

I discovered this movie from the blog Centuries of Sound, a marvelous site devoted to exploring the evolution of sound recording year-by-year from the late 19th century. The blogger includes in his posting for a year some samples of films and the year 1913 included "Atlantis".

Atlantis is the earliest movie I have seen with a modern structure. It is well-shot and well-edited and doesn't lag (with a minor objection). It contains lots of good location shots in Berlin and New York (1913 is the first year I see horseless carriages heavily outnumber the horse-drawn ones). The special effects of the sinking of the "Roland" are wonderful and realistic. It's interesting that the source material of Atlantis came before the sinking of the Titanic.

A tour-de-force for its time.

It's the store line is where I draw the line and where I pose my question in the subject line. I have to assume Director August Blom is deadly serious in all the scenes he presents but brought forth much laughter to this modern man.

Let's start with the leading man, the good Dr. von Kammacher. The bacteriologist turns out to be kind of a rake and a flake.

He is anxiously waiting for the peer reviews of his study - standing by his mailbox like a boy waiting for his decoder ring. The letter arrives but the Dr. is driven into a funk after he reads his hypothesis is rejected for being too revolutionary. To compound matters, his wife suffers from a mental state (y'know the running around with scissors kind?) and has to be sent to the sanatorium forthwith.

It all becomes too much for poor Kammacher. His mother suggests he gets some R&R while she takes care of his three young children.

So begins Kammacher's journey- each leg takes him further away from his family. Along the way he becomes enamored with the dancer Ingigerd Hahlstroem. (He claims "partial" responsibility for his obsession with her).

And he has a brief fling with a young Russian Jewish woman aboard the Roland. It's the first time I see cigarette smoking used as an erotic device. I detest smoking but it's effective and movie-makers have been relying on it ever since.

Kammacher neglects to mention his wife or kids to either one. That and his petulance begins a long line of men in movies who wouldn't be leading men in real life.

Scenes that made me guffaw:

Ingigerd's dance. That statue in the background at the sculptor's loft. Blom's total ignorance of North American geography where the Adirondacks look like the Canadian Rockies.

And don't turn away for a minute or you'll miss the scene that takes place in the title place. It might prompt the question why did the chicken cross the road in Atlantis?

Not really a Titanic story.

[MartSander · 8/10 · 16 February 2007]

This film is very well done according to every standard of film-making. The narrative runs smoothly, the cinematography is years ahead of the period and special effects run amok with imagination and quality. The DVD released by the Danish Film Institute is one of the very best copies of a pre-WW I film one can see nowadays. To be brief, its amazing, astonishing, mind blowing. The Danes began storing and archiving their films very early, so you get a clean second generation copy where most of US films of the period went to the glue or comb factory. It's a long film and tends to get a bit tedious; also the shipwreck scenes (done very well indeed) are rather brief and once they are over, the film turns back to mainstream melodrama. What makes this film rather hard on eyes, is the leading lady. I know it's an unkind thing to say, but the lady is really not beautiful. She is supposed to be a dancer, but her dance scene is atrocious and embarrassing. It's inconceivable why a handsome leading man should ever fall for that kind of middle aged hippie. All in all, a good pic, but to be viewed by intelligent spectators who can delve into history without expecting too much. There are some nice extras, even including an alternative ending, made for the Russian market!

Very boring movie and seems to go nowhere

[JurijFedorov · 3/10 · 27 February 2018]

I found this movie on Youtube and decided to watch it. It's actually not enjoyable at all. I wanted to like it and enjoy it as I enjoy some old comedies. But this is a drama that seems to go on forever. Even small scenes seems to go on for minutes at a time. A woman is flirting with a man? Such a scene would take a minute without anyone saying anything. The beginning would probably have been done in 5 minutes today but it took a long time to get through it. It takes them 30 min to get to the ship. And the sinking is just a small part of the movie. It's really a romance that seems forced and silly.

There is a lot of drama here but only if you read and follow the text. And even then it's a bit confusing. By far the most interesting things about the movie is the scenes on the old streets where you see fancy old cars driving by in Copenhagen and New York. The old Copanhagen taxi looked amazing. So did the trams.

One of the supposed masterpieces of the Danish silent screen.

[Ziggy5446 · 9/10 · 27 June 2007]

Denmark's Atlantis (1913), another ship-sinking story influenced by the Titanic tale and filmed off the coast of New Zealand, was one of the first full-length films ever made - it had a 1 hour, 53 minute running time. This version of the story from director August Blom appeared to sink a full-scale boat for realism. It was a very realistic and naturalistic-looking Titanic film with a well-staged action scene of the ship's sinking. The story is rather simple, despondent over his institutionalized wife, a doctor endeavors to cope by traveling through Europe and eventually to New York, surviving an ocean liner sinking on the way. The film was hailed as an impressive achievement for the cinema of 1913, especially for the sinking liner sequence that was influenced by the Titanic disaster. It was also one of the most popular films of the silent decades, and a worldwide smash hit.

Atlantis. The King of Danish Silent Films!

[IntoThePaintedGrey · 8/10 · 23 October 2007]

I love this movie. I first heard about this movie when I bought the '53' titanic film and was intrigued when I heard about a 1913 Danish silent film. "Atlantis, made in 1913 in Denmark was also one of the first full Leno film ever made." The clips were in excellent shape and was disappointed when I could not find it for sale. But one evening, (I was on the Internet) when my friend was over, I just randomly typed in "Atantis 1913" and I nearly had a heart attack. I had found a copy on Ebay. As you have probably guessed, I quickly snatched up a copy, and when it arrived I quickly ran inside and put the tape in. Just as I had hoped, it was a feast for my eyes and ears. It was taken from an excellent 35mm print. I watched the story unfold. It is about a docter who's wife is institutionalized and he ventures from Europe to America searching for a cure. But during his journey, he meets a beautiful dancer named "Ingigerd" whom he falls in love with and follows her to America. Overall this is a really excellent movie and I highly recommend it.