Die Hochbahnkatastrophe (1921)
(20 Images)
Die Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim).
Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF.
Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
See toned only images in the corresponding gallery on the toning page.
Link to a video excerpt on the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB) (German Digital Library)
“Die Hochbahnkatastrophe, one of a series of German films centered on detective Harry Hill (played by director Valy Arnheim), exemplifies theSensationsfilm, a type of action melodrama that developed from the serial films of the teens. Each act (or reel) ends with a dramatic action, usually a rescue, and the acrobatic protagonists recall serial heroes. Hill displays his daring leaps and pugilistic skill, while the heroine, Alice, appears as a sensation-seeking New Woman. Physical stunts demonstrate their prowess, but control of modern technology – motorcycles, cars, and the railwaysystem – establishes their mastery. Alice thirsts for danger, seeking out perilous mountain climbing paths, but also takes over as chauffeur (albeit sometimes careening over hills and into lakes), while Hill first appears riding dynamically towards the camera on his motorcycle. Modern technology, such as the complex system of underground and elevated trains, gives the film a contemporary feel, matched by up-to-date command of cinema stylistics. Close-up framing conceals the identity of a member of “The Invisible Power” who threatens to wreck the elevated trains, while the movie’s climax builds suspense by cutting between moving trains and heroes and criminals scrambling among tracks and tunnels. The film even embeds the movies into its crime plot. The Invisible Power transmits its threat to blow-up the urban train system by surreptitiously splicing an announcement into a film we see projected in a movie theater to a shocked audience (a practice apparently repeated across the city). Die Hochbahnkatastrophe transforms our canonized image of the artistic andexpressionistic Weimar cinema into something more roughly improvised, faster moving, less artistic and pictorial, less psychological and romantic. Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, made a year later, brought the Sensationsfilm to artistic culmination. But we can only fully appreciate Lang’s film if we recognize the unpretentious genre from which it sprang, with its fast pace, sense of imagination, and light-hearted embrace of both the power and danger of modernity.”
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa (partially visible). Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa (partially visible). Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger. Edge mark: Agfa. Cf.: Brown, Harold (1990): Physical Characteristics of Early Films as Aids to Identification. Brussels: FIAF, on p. 15. View Quote on Page: Edge Codes and Identification
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.
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ShowHide detailsDie Hochbahnkatastrophe (GER 1921, Valy Arnheim). Credit: Deutsches Filminstitut DIF. Photographs of the tinted and toned nitrate print by Barbara Flueckiger.