S.O.S. Eisberg (Arnold Fanck, 1933)

[HerrSchreck]

I was watching SOS ICEBERG today, and was curious as to whether or not our European comrades who have their region's disc of the film could tell me whether or not that release has both the original German release along with Carl Laemmle's American (Universal) cut of the film? Even more than, say, his sonorizing of PITZ PALU, here Laemmle actually appears to have co-produced the film and produced a full sound version of the film with all the actors speaking English-- not dubbed. Completely different cuts when watched side by side, with-- interestingly, since it's not in the native tongue of the bulk of the cast (although there are US actors in the US version exclusive to that cut, who form a prologue in a meeting of "The International Society Of Arctic Research")-- the US version being far more chatty & dialogue-oriented vs the far more visual German version. Fun hearing Gibson Gowland (that Stroeheim standby) talk.

[Tommaso]

In one word: no. As far as I can see, the only European dvd is the German one on the abominable UFA Klassiker edition (though this one is quite acceptable). It's interesting that you say the US version is more chatty, how does it compare to the German version in other respects? I only heard that the US version is in fact directed by a guy called Tay Garnett (who just went along with Fanck on the expedition), with indeed different footage although some of Fanck's seems to have been used. But I wonder whether Garnett could/would emulate Fanck's breakneck editing style?

[Scharphedin2]

...a guy called Tay Garnett

He may not be that well known today, and never was a director of the very first rank, but if you check out his list of credits, he was quite a busy director (and screenwriter) with many respectable films to his credit. I recently saw Seven Sinners with Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne -- a fun hybrid of the kinds of exotic romance-adventure films that Dietrich starred in up through the '30s, and the "boy's own" army/navy flicks that Wayne did a lot of. The film was not incredibly original, but still a really good entertainment with all the earmarks of a Hollywood grade B+ production. Some other notable films that he directed were China Seas, Bataan and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

I have unfortunately not seen S.O.S. Iceberg, but as far as Garnett's technical ability goes, my impression is that he was (if nothing else) admired for being quite a competent craftsman/stylist, which again may be the very reason that he went with Fanck on this assignment, which could not have been an easy one.

[HerrSchreck]

The differences between the domestic German SOS EISBERG and the Laemmle-produced version are very similar to the differences between the German and US (again Laemmle/Universal) cut of THE WHITE HELL OF PIZ PALU. Big difference in runtime (approx ten minutes in the case of ICEBERG), meaning far less emphasis on immersing the viewer in lyrical imagery which doesn't per se move the narrative forward.. i e those moments of hieghtened cinematic beauty & power which the germans were so famous for-- and which the Americans were (now, too, probably, at least en masse) so oblivious to. Americans saw these German masterpieces (going back at least to the obvious example of DIE NIBELUNGEN) as plodding and far too long. Thus they were butchered for release (or, in this case, alternate version release) not only in the US but in the UK as well. Some interesting comments on this phenomena in the Branagh documentary episode on German silent film... some of the studio folks in the UK who actually participated in the editing-down process speak (as old men and women by the time of the doc of course) about the reasons behind the whittling (defacing actually).

I had the Laemmle-sonorized version of PIZ PALU on 16 sound for years on vhs before acquiring the resto on Kino dvd of the nitrate print of the German release that was finally restored in the late 90's (Kinos release of ICEBERG has the US & German versions, but PALU merely excerpts the US version.. I haven't really looked much at this on the disc, but I'm assuming it's the SUNRISE/MAN WHO LAUGHS-type non-dialog sonorization of music and sound effects, this version that I've had on vhs for years). The differences between these two are enormous, far more severe than the differences between ICEBERG-- the difference in runtime bowled me over: originally, WHITE HELL ran at well over 2 hours in Germany, and 90 minutes in the US cut. The prologue of the Dr Krafft with his new wife is removed. The film begins with Riefenstahl and her fiance arriving at the hut, Krafft appears, and the footage of his losing his wife is told strictly as flashback. But the sonorized US version of PALU completely obliterates Pabsts very prominent use of rapid cutting (this film more than any other, including JEANNE NEY, sees Pabst operating in swift mosaic of fast cuts which shows the-- limited, but existent nontheless to be sure-- impact that Eisenstein had on him, an influence completely absent in PANDORA and the rest of his canon save perhaps NEY), it removes the prolonged sense of establishing place and mood. It moves the narrative along with a quick economy of means with very little of the wonderfully expressive & lingering expositions which the Germans were so famous for/brilliantly adept at.

These are the primary differences between the two cuts of ICEBERG: whereas Fanck loves to linger on the architecture of the glaciers, floes, lingering on shots of freezing conditions rendered with incredibly powerful and moody cinematography (are these films not the greatest use of the lightweight portable Debrie camera, sans perhaps-- and only perhaps-- MAN W THE MOVIE CAMERA?), to really chill you to the bones and instill a sense of time-passing so the endurance, frostbite and exhaustion are inevitably and indelibly stamped into your viscera whereby you're on the brink of shivering uncontrollably yourself. Yet the US version moves the action along in strict terms of physical melodrama, occasionally pausing to render the melodrama in psychological terms during the scenes of the principals stranded on the huge iceberg. There's very little of the painterly use of landscape abstraction, meditation of the effect of these extreme conditions via visual means-- without dialogue, i e in purely cinematic means-- in the Laemmle cut. (Gibson Gowland's character is such a rank shithead in this film.. certainly not the Christian-type-- PALU's ubermensch guide and rescue leader--heroic & selfless mountain guide of BLIND HUSBANDS/THE PINNACLE that he played back in 1919.)

So whereas the German version of ICEBERG is a cinematic variation on the adventure/mountain film of the highest order (just a notch beneath PALU and the earlier HOLY MOUNTAIN), the US cut is a chatty bit of business which reduces the SIR ARNE-type freezing chill of the German version to virtually nil.. though I will say that if there were no German release whatsoever of the film, and the Tay Garnett version was all that existed, it would soar a bit higher in my regard, not being crushed by comparison. I do find the inclusion of the full version on the DL Kino disc a nice unexpected bonus, and another fascinating study of the differences in the US & German film industries at the time, even when the US studio is overseen by an expat German himself who one would expect to be sypathetic to this trademark filmmaking style (viz his support not only of Fanck but his wooing & very fruitful acquisition of Paul Leni... for god's sake Leni made the sublime CAT AND THE CANARY and THE LAST WARNING, as well as the all cylinders turning Leni/Veidt masterpiece THE MAN WHO LAUGHS under Laemmle during his wonderful tenure at Universal; his work with dp Gilbert Warrenton is second only Murnau/Freund & Dreyer/Mate... perhaps).

Speaking of have you guys seen the Cineteca Bologna/L'Immag. Ritrovata resto of THE MAN WHO LAUGHS yet? Or seen the film at all? If you haven't, then run, don't walk.

[Tommaso]

Thanks, Schreck, for this as always very comprehensive account. Do we really get to hear Leni speaking in English (i.e. undubbed)? If so, I imagine it to be hilarious, considering the English I've heard her speaking in some interviews I saw with her. The Teutonic acccent of hers made me laugh out loud even as a German....

Americans saw these German masterpieces (going back at least to the obvious example of DIE NIBELUNGEN) as plodding and far too long. Thus they were butchered for release (or, in this case, alternate version release) not only in the US but in the UK as well. Some interesting comments on this phenomena in the Branagh documentary episode on German silent film...

Incidentally, I re-watched Lang's "Woman in the moon" yesterday, which lasts 162 min. in the full version, but was cut down to 90 min. in its US release. Although I still find it drags a little in the first half (and it really isn't up to his other 20s films IMHO), I really cannot imagine how it would have been possible to cut out more than 70 min. from it without making it one terrible gaping hole of a narrative. With Fanck's films it would be easier of course as they are focussed more on the purely pictorial, anyway, but still I wonder how they could have hoped to make the whole thing more commercial by cutting the best part of them.

. But the sonorized US version of PALU completely obliterates Pabsts very prominent use of rapid cutting (this film more than any other, including JEANNE NEY, sees Pabst operating in swift mosaic of fast cuts which shows the-- limited, but existent nontheless to be sure-- impact that Eisenstein had on him, an influence completely absent in PANDORA and the rest of his canon save perhaps NEY).

Quite right, but I think you are giving undue credit to Pabst for this. Remember, Pabst only directed the 'dialogue' scenes, whereas Fanck did the outdoor/mountain shots and I would argue it was Fanck who actually edited the film in much his usual style. The 'swift mosaic of fast cuts' is quite typical for his films of the time, think of "Stürme über dem Mont Blanc" and especially "Der weiße Rausch", and so I would say the Eisenstein impact you speak of was on Fanck rather than on Pabst. I read the discussion about Eisenstein/Pabst in the "Pandora" thread, and would agree that there is no such influence. Riefenstahl is said to have seen both "Potemkin" and "Man with a movie camera" in the 20s, and it may well be that Fanck went along with her to see those films and got influenced by them.

[HerrSchreck]

Quite right, but I think you are giving undue credit to Pabst for this. Remember, Pabst only directed the 'dialogue' scenes, whereas Fanck did the outdoor/mountain shots and I would argue it was Fanck who actually edited the film in much his usual style..

I truly had no idea-- I knew Pabst did an assist on the film but didn't know it was restricted to dialog scenes (perhaps "human interaction" scenes is better?)... I probably read it at some point but forgot about it, as my digesting the scholarship on this stuff was prior to my seeing the vast bulk of Fanck.

In that case the only slight whiff of Eisenstein one will find in Pabsts' catalog is in JEANNE NEY, which still is probably my favorite film by him.