''The End of the World'' ( da, Verdens Undergang) is a 1916 Danish science fiction drama film directed by August Blom and written by

Otto Rung Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

, starring Olaf Fønss and Ebba Thomsen. The film depicts a worldwide catastrophe when an errant

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

passes by Earth and causes natural disasters and social unrest. Blom and his crew created special effects for the comet disaster using showers of fiery sparks and shrouds of smoke. The film attracted a huge audience because of fears generated during the passing of

Halley's comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a List of periodic comets, short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye fr ...

six years earlier, as well as the ongoing turbulence and unrest of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The film is also known as ''The Flaming Sword''. It was restored by the Danish Film Institute and released on DVD in 2006.

Cast

* Olaf Fønss as Frank Stoll - Mine Owner *

Carl Lauritzen Carl Lauritzen (4 April 1879 – 18 April 1940), was a Danish actor. He appeared in 15 films between 1912 and 1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish ...

as Mineformand / Mine Forman West * Ebba Thomsen as Dina West * Johanne Fritz-Petersen as Edith West * Thorleif Lund as Minearbejder / Worker Flint * Alf Blütecher as Styrmand / Ship's Mate Reymers * Frederik Jacobsen as Den vandrende Prædikant / The Wandering Preacher * K. Zimmerman as Professor Wissmann * Moritz Beilawski * Erik Holberg

References

External links

*
''The End of the World''
on

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* 1916 films 1910s science fiction drama films Apocalyptic films Danish black-and-white films Danish silent films Danish science fiction drama films Fiction about comets Films directed by August Blom Films about impact events 1916 drama films Comets in film Silent drama films Silent science fiction films {{Denmark-silent-film-stub