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| Not from the film: Cologne in December 1943 after bombing. Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-484-2999-20, Köln, Ruinen zerstörter Gebäude nach einem Bombenangriff; im Hintergrund der Dom. / Bayer / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Erstellt: Dezember 1943 date QS:P,+1943-12-00T00:00:00Z/10. Photo: Wikipedia / Das Bundesarchiv. |
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| Not from the film: Berlin in July 1944 after bombing. Brände nach einem Luftangriff auf Berlin (1944). Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J30142 / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Es folgt die historische Originalbeschreibung, die das Bundesarchiv aus dokumentarischen Gründen übernommen hat. Diese kann allerdings fehlerhaft, tendenziös, überholt oder politisch extrem sein. Zentralbild II. Weltkrieg 1939 - 45 Berlin, Juli 1944 Das durch einen Luftangriff zerstörte Gebäude des Scherl-Verlages in der Jerusalemer Strasse Ecke Zimmerstraße. QS:P,+1944-07-00T00:00:00Z/10. Photo Wikipedia / Das Bundesarchiv. |
[There are no credits or text titles and there is no sound in these compilations.]
35 mm. D.: 22’. Bn. Year: 1944. Country: Germania
Copies from Das Bundesarchiv.
Introduce Olaf Möller.
It was announced that Daniele Furlati would be at the grand piano, but I think the films were screened silent.
Viewed at Sala Scorsese, Bologna, Il Cinema Ritrovato (“We Are the Natives of Trizonia”: Inventing West German Cinema, 1945–49), 22 June 2019.
Olaf Möller (Il Cinema Ritrovato): "[Köln nach einem Bombenangriff 1944] is an assemblage of newsreel footage from Cologne. We see a church erected during the 14th and 15th century (as a sign says) that is now destroyed, ruined restaurants (including Die Bastei, an architectural landmark), as well as the bombed-out offices of eau de cologne company 4711 on the Glockengasse. Nuns wander among the rubble; corpses lie by the wayside. In a chalk scribble on a wall someone wonders about the fate of another – who knows what became of these people? If this is your hometown, these scattered impressions add up to a highly condensed, symbolic narrative."
"[Berlin nach einem bombenangriff 1944] is even more of a patchwork, but with several revealing moments and surreal sights from Berlin. One shows a church with a sign promising “reopening soon”, another people carrying a piano among the rubble. One ruin is identified as the former seat of the “Presse-Abteilung der Reichsregierung im Reichsministerium fur Volksaufklärung und Propaganda. Abteilung Ausland”; following this, posters advertising 1943 releases such as …und die Musik spielt dazu. Saison in Salzburg (Carl Boese) or Ein glücklicher Mensch (Paul Verhoeven) look even more unreal. Pity the dead animals in a bombed-out zoo; wonder at Göring contemplating the capital’s devastation." Olaf Möller
AA: There is little to add to Olaf Möller's accounts above. There was not sound nor any text information in the prints, save "Ende des Films". I don't remember if there was a pianist in the screening, but the films would not need any.
Because the films were screened back to back I did not notice where Cologne ended and where Berlin started.
These films were a shock opening to Olaf's series.
A phantom ride, long takes filmed from a moving vehicle, take us immediately to the ruins of the city. People swarm in the street, we traverse Martin-Luther-Strasse and pass by a railway station. The devastation is truly horrifying. The sky is dark due to the smoke from the ruins. Fires are extinguished in remarkable scenes. Food is delivered. People queue in breadlines. Ruined houses are demolished by fire brigades using backhoe loaders.
We see starved and dead giraffes and elephants at the Berlin Zoological Garden. A male lion has barely survived and looks like being at the end of his tether. Hermann Göring meets refugees while passing through in his magnificent car (Mercedes-Benz?). We see the ruins of a church. There is an extreme high angle shot over the ruined city taken from a high building. Many corpses lie on the street, including a baby.
Stunning.
The visual quality of the prints is high.
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