''The Tunnel'' (German:''Der Tunnel'') is a 1915 German silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by William Wauer and starring

Friedrich Kayssler Friedrich Martin Adalbert Kayssler, also spelled Kayßler (7 April 1874 – 30 April 1945), was a German theatre and film actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1913 and 1945. Biography Kayssler was born in Neurode in the Silesia Province o ...

Fritzi Massary Fritzi Massary (31 March 1882 – 30 January 1969) was an Austrian-American soprano singer and actress. Early life and career Fritzi Massary was born Friederike Massaryk in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 31 March 1882. She was one ...

and

Hermann Vallentin Hermann Vallentin (24 May 1872 – 18 September 1945) was a German actor. Biography Hermann Vallentin was born in Berlin in 1872. He was the son of a Jewish timber merchant and factory owner, Felix Vallentin. He was the older brother of actress ...

. It is the first of several film adaptations of Bernhard Kellermann's 1913 novel '' Der Tunnel'' about the construction of a vast

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

connecting Europe and America. The film was made by Paul Davidson's

PAGU The Projektions-AG Union (generally shortened to PAGU) was a German film production company which operated between 1911 and 1924 during the silent era. From 1917 onwards, the company functioned as an independent unit of Universum Film AG, and was e ...

production company, with sets designed by art director

Hermann Warm Hermann Warm was a German art director for films. Born in 1889 (died 1976) in Berlin, Germany, Warm was an important figure in the expressionist movement of the 1920s. Warm entered the German film industry in 1912 after working on-stage for a w ...

. It still survives, unlike many films from the era, and was restored in 2010. Despite the fact that it was a silent film,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

was reported to be affected by both the film and the novel, finding that the power of oratory could influence masses and change the course of human events.Domarus, p. 60

Cast

Felix Basch Felix Basch (1885–1944) was an American-Austrian actor, screenwriter and film director. He first acted in Vienna, and he was a producer and director for the German film production company UFA GmbH, U. F. A. Following the Nazi takeover of powe ...

* Hans Halden * Rose Veldtkirch

References

Bibliography

* Hake, Sabine. ''Popular Cinema of the Third Reich''. University of Texas Press, 2001. * Domarus, Max. "Hitler, Speeches and Proclamations1932–1945 - The Chronicle of a Dictatorship, Volume One: The Years 1932 to 1934." BOLCHAZY-CARDUCCI Publishers, 1990.

External links

* 1915 films 1910s science fiction drama films German science fiction drama films Films of the German Empire German silent feature films Films directed by William Wauer Films based on German novels Films based on works by Bernhard Kellermann German black-and-white films 1915 drama films Silent drama films 1910s German films 1910s German-language films Silent science fiction films {{1910s-Germany-film-stub