Kameradschaft (1931)

Plea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of french miners rescued by german colleagues after a firedamp explosion.

Director:

Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Writers:

Peter Martin Lampel, Karl Otten,

Stars:

Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Ernst Busch

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alexander Granach	...	Kasper
Fritz Kampers	...	Wilderer
Ernst Busch	...	Wittkopp
Elisabeth Wendt	...	Frau Anna Wittkopp
Gustav Püttjer	...	Kaplan
Oskar Höcker	...	Obersteiger
Daniel Mendaille	...	Jean Leclerc
Georges Charlia	...	Emile
Andrée Ducret	...	Françoise
Alex Bernard	...	Grand-père, le vieux mineur
Pierre-Louis	...	Georges - le petit galibot
Héléna Manson	...	Rose, la femme du mineur blessé
Marcel Lesieur	...	Albert
Willem Holsboer	...	Ingenieur des deutschen Bergwerks (as Willem Holzboer)
Georges Tourreil	...	L'ingénieur

Storyline

A old German mine was split in two after the end of WWI because of the new border. In the Frenchpart a fire breaks out. The German minwers send a rescue group in, helping their French comrades. A group of three old German miners, who where not treaten friendly at a French inn the night before, start their private rescue through an old way, where since 1919 the border is. After all survivors are rescued, there's a big party with speeches about friendship between Frensh and Germans, while border police closes the old way in the mine.

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Plot Keywords:

border | rescue | fire | explosion | marbles | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

Germany France

Language:

French German

Release Date:

17 November 1931 (Germany)

Also Known As:

A Tragédia da Mina

Filming Locations:

Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nero-Film AG, Gaumont-Franco Film-Aubert (G.F.F.A)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 86 min (Janus print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of Pierre-Louis.

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Connections

Featured in Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1995)

User Reviews

Old school story with universal appeal

Those French and those Germans sure have a long history of not liking each other. It is interesting to note that Kamerdaschaft or Comradeship in translation takes place in 1931. Only a few years later, Hitler would siege Germany and begin his plans to take over the world, France being a casualty of his ambitions. But these are times of sereneness compared to the future. A group of miners at the border try to cross over to France to get work. They are spurned back and later at a nightclub by their French neighbors. Then a disaster happens in the mines of the French and a well-crafted and written scene, a troupe of German miners decide to come to the rescue. A simple story is it not? Pabst was a poet of silent cinema and I am not sure if this is his first sound movie or not, but his poetry is there to be discovered. He isn't fussy but brings a rugged realism to the ordeal. Ther is even a flashback to a WWII event that beckons the point of this story. Supposedly based on a real event, the movie does the events proudly with directness and terseness. Smetimes, that's what a movie needs to be.