Arnold Fanck's Arctic Adventure
Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 1.33:1, Black & White, English, Dubbed & Subtitled
In a departure from the trademark Alpine settings of Arnold Fanck's Bergfilme ("Mountain Films"), S.O.S. Iceberg (S.O.S. Eisberg) takes place off the coast of Greenland, where an explorer, Karl Lorenz (Gustav Diessl), is stranded on a steadily-eroding iceberg. A rescue crew, led by the heroic Johannes Krafft (Sepp Rist), reaches Prof. Lorenz, but also becomes stranded, as does Mrs. Lorenz (Leni Riefenstahl), who crashes her plane while trying to land in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Surrounded by polar bears on their shrinking iceberg, the explorer and his would-be rescuers battle the elements, and each other, while waiting for a miracle.S.O.S. Iceberg was filmed simultaneously in an English-language version, which is presented in its entirety on this DVD. The differences between the two are not merely lingual. Each film is edited differently and includes prolonged sequences not seen in its transatlantic counterpart.
Editor's Note
Dr. Arnold Fanck expands upon the real-life story of explorer Alfred Lothar Wegener, whose polar expedition of 1929 ended in disaster; two of the survivors of that trek served as advisors on the film. The fictional Karl Lorenz (Gustav Diessel) is on a mission to find out what happened to Wegener, and to save any members of his team who may still be alive. Lorenz becomes stranded on a slowly-diminishing iceberg, menaced by polar bears and in grave danger. His wife, Ellen (Leni Riefenstahl), a famous pilot, arrives to save the day, but crash-lands and is stranded along with everyone else. Luckily, a group of Eskimos and Major Ernst Udet (playing himself) arrive in kayaks. S.O.S. ICEBERG was filmed in the same year as Riefenstahl's VICTORY OF THE FAITH, the first of the films she made for the Nazi party.
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