''S.O.S. Eisberg'' (aka ''S.O.S. Iceberg'' and ''Iceland'') is a 1933 German-US

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film directed by

Arnold Fanck Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White H ...

and starring

Gustav Diessl Gustav Diessl (30 December 1899 – 20 March 1948) was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor. Biography Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar Diessl in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruite ...

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, Film producer, producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, photographer, and actress. She is considered one of the most controversial ...

Sepp Rist Sepp Rist (24 February 1900 – 11 December 1980) was a German film actor.Goble p.480 In WW1 he served in the Imperial German Navy. He was married to the actress Carla Rust. Partial filmography * '' Storm over Mont Blanc'' (1930) - Hannes * '' S ...

Gibson Gowland Gibson Gowland (4 January 1877 – 9 September 1951) was an English film actor. Biography Gowland was born 4 January in either 1872 or 1877 in Spennymoor, County Durham. He started work as a sailor and later became the mate on a ship. For ...

Rod La Rocque Roderick Ross La Rocque (November 29, 1898 – October 15, 1969) was an American actor. Biography La Rocque was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edmund La Rocque and Ann (née Rice) La Rocque. His father was of French-Canadian descent and his mo ...

, and

Ernst Udet Ernst Udet (26 April 1896 – 17 November 1941) was a German pilot during World War I and a ''Luftwaffe'' Colonel-General (''Generaloberst'') during World War II. Udet joined the Imperial German Air Service in April 1915 at the age of 19 ...

. The film was written by Tom Reed based on a story by Arnold Fanck and Friedrich Wolf. ''S.O.S. Eisberg'' follows the account of the real-life Alfred Lothar Wegener polar expedition of 1929–30. Among the stars in ''S.O.S. Eisberg'' were Leni Riefenstahl, who had just made her directorial debut in '' The Blue Light'' (1932). Riefenstahl, in her last film as an actress, co-starred with Gustav Diessl and Ernst Udet in the German version ''S.O.S. Eisberg'', and with Gibson Gowland and Rod La Rocque in the English version, ''S.O.S. Iceberg''. Ernst Udet, a former German

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in a cameo performance, flew in both versions.

Plot

At a banquet held by the International Society for Arctic Research, the members toast scientist Dr. Carl Lorenz, about to recreate famed explorer Wegener's ill-fated expedition. Lorenz's team consists of two scientists, Dr. Johannes Brand and Dr. Jan Matushek, his friend, Fritz Kuemmel, their financial backer, John Dragan, and their pilot to the Arctic, Lorenz's wife Hella. After Hella drops them at their base camp, the men begin their long trek to recover Wegener's records and prove his theories on ice floes. As the weeks pass, Brand and the others fear they will not survive when the ice breaks up, but Lorenz scoffs and refuses to wait until winter. Early one morning, Lorenz sets out on his own. His companions fear he is lost. They find a hut Wegener occupied and a note from Lorenz saying that he is trying to reach a native village. Suddenly the ice breaks up and the sleds carrying their food supplies tumble into a ravine. The rescuers take refuge on a huge iceberg where they discover a dazed and uncommunicative Lorenz. Brand begins sending out an S.O.S. on his wireless and Hella immediately leaves to search for her husband. Disaster strikes, with Dragan going mad, and as Kümmel fights with him to prevent their dog, Nakinak, from being killed, Kümmel falls to his death. When Hella finds the survivors, she misjudges her landing and crashes but is able to swim to the iceberg. Seeing they are drifting out to sea, Brand dives into the water and is picked up by another pilot, famed aviator Ernst Udet, who has been tracking Hella's flight path. Udet flies Brand to the nearby Inuit village. Matushek sees two polar bears fighting over a seal but is killed when he tries to spear the bears. Dragan then attacks Hella, but by then her husband has come to his senses, and she is saved. The iceberg begins to come apart, flinging Dragan into the sea. Lorenz, Hella and Nakinak are rescued by the Inuit. The three survivors later are aboard a ship bound for home, but Lorenz is haunted by the deaths incurred in his misguided expedition.

Cast

;German version *

as Dr. Karl Lorenz *

as Hella Lorenz *

as Dr. Johannes Krafft *

as Ernst Udet *

as John Dragan *

Max Holzboer Wilhelm Max Gerhard Holsboer (sometimes ''Holzboer''; 29 July 1883 – 12 January 1958) was a Swiss ice hockey player who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. He later appeared in several films. In 1920, he participated with the Swiss ice hockey ...

as Dr. Jan Matuschek * Walter Riml as Fritz Kümmel ;English version *

as Dr. Carl Lawrence *

as Ellen Lawrence *

as Dr. Johannes Brand *

as Ernst Udet, flier *

as John Dragan *

as Dr. Jan Matuschek * Walter Riml as Fritz Kümmel * Nakinak as Nakinak, the Inuit dog

Production

The film was based on

Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...

's Greenland expedition. The Danish government, which banned film production in Greenland, allowed the production to film in Greenland under the protection of

Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studies) ...

. Fritz Loewe and Ernst Sorge, two members of the ill-fated expedition, served as technical consultants.

wanted

Elly Beinhorn Elly Beinhorn (30 May 1907 – 28 November 2007) was a pioneering German female aircraft pilot. Life Early life She was born in Hannover, Germany on 30 May 1907. In 1928, she attended a lecture by famed aviator Hermann Köhl, who had rece ...

to play Ellen, but Universal selected

to capitalize off of the success of '' The White Hell of Pitz Palu''. This was the first American film that Riefenstahl starred in and. Production started under the working title of ''Iceland''. Prior to principal photography, pre-production development and location shooting took a year. Fanck became engaged to Elizabeth Kind on 2 May 1932, and brought her with him as a

script supervisor A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including dialogue and action during a scene. The script supervisor may also be called upon to ensure wa ...

. Fanch, Kind,

Paul Kohner Paul Kohner (May 29, 1902 – March 16, 1988) was an Austrian-American talent agent and producer who managed the careers of Ingrid Bergman, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, John Huston, Liv Ullmann and Billy Wilder, as well as act ...

, Zoltan Kegl,

Werner Klingler Karl Adolf Kurt Werner Klingler (23 October 1903 – 23 June 1972) was a German film director and actor. He directed 29 films between 1936 and 1968. He was born in Stuttgart and died in West Berlin, West Germany. Early life Klingler acquire ...

, and

left Copenhagen for Greenland on 20 May, and arrived at

Uummannaq Uummannaq is a town on Uummannaq Island in the Avannaata municipality, in central-western Greenland. With 1,407 inhabitants in 2020, it is the eighth-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country's most northerly ferry terminal. Foun ...

three weeks later. $350,000 was spent shooting 350,000 feet of film, around 60 hours. The interiors shot were filmed in a Berlin studio. A total of 38 men and women, three polar bears and two sea lions of the Hagenbeck circus making up the crew of the ''S.O.S. Eisberg'' boarded the ''Borodino'' at the end of June 1932. Filming was especially arduous with "Leni Riefenstahl, whose life he (Fanck) had often put in danger", after her repeated swimming in frigid waters, had to leave the production, "before the others, to be hospitalized in Copenhagen". None of the film's actors had doubles and actors endured extreme cold and performed dangerous stunts. Udet almost died when his plane's engine lost power and crashed at the base of an iceberg. Udet was rescued by the Inuit, but minutes later, the iceberg which was supporting some of the crew crumbled to bits, casting men and equipment into the water below. The production unit ship anchored nearby was so shaken by the event that it nearly capsized, throwing people on board the deck into the water. All were rescued, but considerable sound equipment was destroyed." One member of the crew was lost for six days before being found, five people were burned, and two airplanes crashed. Although "conceived and started by Germans", ''S.O.S. Eisberg'' was "turned over to

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

when the originators were unable to carry it through."

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He made nearly 50 films in various genres during his 55-year career, ''The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film), The Postman ...

was sent to Germany by

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle ; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the ...

to salvage the film. Garnett decided to make the film seven reels long, but needed a story and only found 30 minutes of the footage to be usable.

Edwin H. Knopf Edwin H. Knopf (November 11, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American film producer, film director, and screenwriter. Biography He was born in New York City and went to work early in his life in the editorial department of his brother Alfre ...

was hired to write a script around the footage that was shot. Garnett and Fanck filmed additional scenes in Switzerland, which were silent so that Udet and Riefenstahl could dub over in English. The score for the film was composed by

Paul Dessau Paul Dessau (19 December 189428 June 1979) was a German composer and conductor. He collaborated with Bertolt Brecht and composed incidental music for his plays, and several operas based on them. Biography Dessau was born in Hamburg into a m ...

and performed by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. The highlights of the action included air crashes; the aircraft in ''S.O.S. Eisberg'' were: * de Havilland 60 Genet Moth c/n 271, D-1651 *

BFW M.23 The BFW M.23, sometimes known as the Messerschmitt M 23, was a 1920s two-seat sporting aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt, and produced by ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' (BFW). Examples won several prestigious races in 1929 and 1930. Develo ...

bW c/n 511, D-1970 * Klemm VL 26b c/n 278, D-2269 *

Udet U 12 The Udet U 12 Flamingo was an aerobatic sports plane and trainer aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1920s. Design and development The U 12 was a conventional, single-bay biplane of wooden construction with the wings braced by large I-stru ...

b Spezial Flamingo D-822 * Junkers A 20 c/n 862, D-574Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'S.O.S. Eisberg'."
''Aeromovies'', 29 July 2011. Retrieved: 23 July 2019. Aviation film historian James H. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984) noted, "... some outstanding, though brief aerial sequences are featured."Farmer 1984, p. 325.

Release

The preview version of the film was 121 minutes long. ''S.O.S. Eisberg'', the German version of the film with a runtime of 103 minutes, premiered in Berlin on 8 August 1933. ''S.O.S. Iceberg'', the English version of the film with a runtime of 70 minutes, premiered in Berlin in September. A shorter version of ''S.O.S. Iceberg'' was released by

Castle Films Castle Films was a film company founded in California by former newsreel cameraman Eugene W. Castle (1897–1960) in 1924. Originally, Castle Films produced industrial and advertising films. Then in 1937, the company pioneered the production and ...

in 1951.

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' in their contemporary review of ''S.O.S. Iceberg'' noted, "The result is an authentic and authoritative series of polar pictures which scarcely need the pressbook assurance that no miniatures were used to supplement the straight shots.""Review: 'S.O.S. Eisberg'."
''

'', 31 December 1932. Retrieved: 23 July 2019. The ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' gave the film three and a half stars.

References

Notes

Works cited

* *

Bibliography

* Fanck, Arnold. ''S.O.S. Eisberg. Mit Dr. Fanck u. Ernst Udet in Groenland. Die Groenland-Expedition des Universal-Films S.O.S. Eisberg''. München: F. BruckmannAG, 1933. OCLC 219890420. * Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation''. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Tab Books Inc., 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema''. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Riefenstahl, Leni. ''Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir''. New York: Picador, 1995. . * Riefenstahl, Leni. ''Kampf in Schee und Eis''. Leipzig: Hesse und Bacher Verlag, 1933. * Sorge, Ernst. ''With Plane, Boat, and Camera in Greenland: An Account of the Universal Dr. Fanck Greenland expedition''. London: Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., 1935.

External links

* * *
John Gallagher review of 2005 DVD released by Kino International
{{Arnold Fanck 1933 films American aviation films 1930s adventure drama films American adventure drama films German adventure drama films Films of the Weimar Republic Films of Nazi Germany 1930s German-language films 1930s English-language films American multilingual films Climbing and mountaineering films German multilingual films Films directed by Arnold Fanck Films set in the Arctic Films shot in Greenland Films scored by Paul Dessau 1933 multilingual films 1933 drama films 1930s American films 1930s German films English-language adventure drama films German-language American films