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15 August 2024 Bonn (Germany)
Internationale Stummfilmtage: The Peak of Fate
Neil Brand (Piano) - Arkadenhof der Universität Bonn
Program Info: The mountain film developed into one of the most popular genres in German cinema in the 1920s. A leader in the field was the former geologist Arnold Fanck, who popularized the genre with THE MOUNTAIN OF DESTINY. The focus is always on the battle of “man against nature”, as is the case here in the story about a Tyrolean mountaineer (genre star Luis Trenker in his acting debut) and the “Devil’s Peak”, which is considered insurmountable. The new digital restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung allows the breathtaking outdoor shots to shine in all their glory.
Available to stream from August 17th to 19th, 2024 on https://stummfilmtage.culturebase.org
In the 1920s, the mountainfilm genre emerged as one of the most popular genres in German cinema. One of its leading figures was the former geologist Arnold Fanck, who popularised the genre with his first feature-length fiction film THE PEAK OF FATE. In mountain films, the central theme invariably centres on the struggle of "man against nature", as is the case with this story of a Tyrolean mountaineer (genre star Luis Trenker in his filmdebut) and the supposedly unclimbable "Devil's Peak". The new digital restoration by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation allows the film’s breath-taking location photography to shine in all its splendour.
In a film drama of the usual style, human events, viewed realistically or symbolically, glide across the screen, supported and illustrated by a staffage landscape or a constructed image. But here a moment of reality, a fact that affects us directly, is reproduced in its simple authenticity. A natural fact about this that is typical of modern man, which unintentionally arises from his changed feelings and aspirations: sport. This time it's alpinism, not captured in all its richness, but where its nerve-wracking drama is impressively condensed, in rock climbing. This very strange and yet so understandable urge to conquer the lonely terror of rigid spikes, impassable walls, chopped bones with a cool objectivity and more determined energy, as if it were the ultimate goal of life, this oh-so-sympathetic madness, every step of the way and every jerk To fight for the heights with the highest commitment, this all forms the basis and subject of the new film. In a magnificent opening, the images of mist-shrouded rock towers of the Bergell and the Brenta Dolomites allow us to understand the fever that irresistibly entices the mountaineer to take up the struggle with the stone colossi. The naked event rolls by without any theatrical draping. Grip by grip, we follow the climbing of overhanging walls, the exemplary, technically exemplary passage through a chimney, abseiling, and the descent over newly snow-covered and icy cliffs. The viewer's gaze falls into yawning depths, encounters fantastic peaks and sudden avalanches. Some people will be amazed by the dangers and difficulties of the recording. But the feeling of direct experience grips many people and imperceptibly the demonism of the mountain grabs hold of us and the excitement of this daring start ignites us.
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