SOS Eisberg

After Leni Riefenstahl produced, directed, wrote and starred in her own feature film Das blaue Licht, and after her first film for the National Socialist Party, Der Sieg des Glaubens, she made one last film with Arnold Fanck, which would ultimately turn out to be his most famous film, and which might also be considered to be the most famous bergfilm of all time. In fact, this time around it was perhaps not quite a bergfilm, but rather an iceberg film: shot on location in Greenland, the entire production team — cast, crew and all — went there along with the arctic explorer Knud Rasmussen, scientific advisor Ernst Sorge and various others, encountering very genuine dangers of their own during the shooting. This film was also Leni's first (and only) appearance as an aviatrix, further developing the mythology surrounding her.

Synopsis

The film begins cataclysmically, with the thunder of icebergs breaking up, crashing into the sea. We see the explorer Dr. Karl Lorenz [Gustav Diessl] writing in his daily journal of the events that he has witnessed, the wildlife and the dangers he has encountered, since he wandered off on his own and disappeared. Back in Germany, his colleagues debate whether there is any hope of Lorenz still being alive, and his wife Hella [Leni Riefenstahl] begins to despair as well. One last effort is made to find him, and a search party — comprised of John Dragan [Gibson Gowland], Fritz Kümmel [Walter Riml], Dr. Jan Matuschek [Max Holzboer], and led by Dr. Johannes Krafft [Sepp Rist] — and just as they are on the verge of giving up they discover Lorenz' journal which details both his locations and routes. With this information, they renew their search, and back in Germany there is hope once again for Hella and their friend Ernst Udet [as himself], too.

From ice floe to ice floe the search party hops it's way along the route Lorenz described. Scenes of the quietly mysterious and beautiful landscape are punctuated with encounters with seals and bears, and with the occasional threatening crash of the ice breaking up. Eventually, however, they begin to get into dire straights themselves, but at long last they find Lorenz on the verge of death in an ice cave, and immediately they radio for help with their location. Hella, upon hearing the news, flies out herself to try to find the search party and rescue her husband, but before she can find them Dr. Krafft decides to leave the party's camp to try to make his way back on his own. As he makes his way along the floes, he hears Hella's plane and tries to signal her, but she doesn't see him and flies on. Eventually she finds the location of the main search party, but as she lands her plane in the water she crashes into the iceberg they are on and her plane is destroyed — and now she, too, is stranded!

With Krafft out all on his own, trying to find his way, back at the main camp, Hella, Dr. Lorenz and the search team are also getting more and more desperate as they combat the cold and other dangers: two members of the search team fight each other to the death, another is killed by a bear, and another loses his mind and sets out to attack Hella and her husband, but then he is killed as well when their iceberg begins breaking up.

Can the few remaining survivors possibly be saved?
(Click for a pop-up window with the plot spoiler)

Image Galleries

• Titles/Credits for SOS Eisberg
• For downloadable video clips, please see Leni Riefenstahl Video Downloads (Part One: The Arnold Fanck Bergfilms)

Historical Notes

• Forthcoming!

Analysis & Criticism (On-Site)

• None (at this time)

Web Links

Below are selected external links (to other sites) with information and/or articles about this film. External links to information about other Leni Riefenstahl films can be found in the Web Links section on the main pages for each of those films, or for more general information please see the Selected Leni Riefenstahl Links section of this site.

• Godthab
  

  From the web site of this kayak manufacturer: "Godthab - the fast classical sea kayak. The basic concept of this sea kayak has its roots in the West Greenland hunting boats. After finishing the shooting of the film 'SOS-Eisberg', several original boats were transported to Europe, measured and catered for the needs of the sea kayaks' canoeists."

• The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• S.O.S. Eisberg — Alpines Spiel mit einer Materie, die man nicht beherrschen kann
• Uummannaq - back to the roots of kajak-sports
  

  A site about traditional kayaking, includes some references to SOS Eisberg and Dr. Ernst Sorge (a scientific advisor who accompanied the Fanck production team to Greenland), including a short description of his being stranded on the ice for a week.

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