Tenerife (1924-1925) (2018 preservation by Nasjonalbiblioteket)

Tenerife (NO 1924-1925). Photo Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo/Mo i Rana. From Le Giornate del Cinema Muto Catalog.

TENERIFE (NO?, c.1924-1925) regia/dir: Hans Berge? prod: Framfilm. copia/copy: DCP, 4'56" (da/from 35 mm nitr. neg., 84 m); senza did./no titles. fonte/source: Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo/Mo i Rana.

    Grand piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Hans Berge Travelogues, 10 Oct 2023.

Tina Anckarman (GCM 2023): " The island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands has been a popular destination for European tourists since the 1950s. Before that, travellers on their way to the African colonies would sometimes make a stop at the island. The Grand Hotel Quisisana in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, seen in a sequence in the film, was built by Henry Wolfson (Enrique Wolfson Ossipoff, 1857-1909), a British Jew born in Russia. The architect assigned to create the hotel was Mariano Estanga y Arias Girón (1867-1937). Wolfson wanted the hotel to resemble British castles, and Estanga’s fantastic building is a mix of various architectural styles. Construction began in 1902, and the impressive hotel opened on 5 December 1904. "

" The film literally opens with a bang, with a blast at an unidentified construction site and water cannons. From there we join a group of men aboard a ship sailing along the coastline. The M/S Rio de Janeiro was built in 1914, and was in service between London and the Mediterranean in 1924. Dolphins lead the way as we watch the silhouette of the island, and the ship’s cats feast on the carcass of a flying fish on deck. We also get short glimpses of the streets, a church, the harbour, and the beach. In one scene a woman and a boy come riding towards us on donkeys, followed by a car with vehicle plates dating before 1926. "

" It seems that for the most part the films collected by Hans Berge that were made by others are advanced productions, and always complete screening copies. The source material for Tenerife, however, is an unedited nitrate negative, lacking intertitles. We have no trace of a completed screening copy. This leads us to the assumption that these scenes were shot by Berge himself. Maybe he left it unfinished? Or perhaps the corresponding screening copy was lost? " – Tina Anckarman

AA: A Tenerife travelogue with gorgeous views, long shots, panoramic and tracking shots from the moving ship named Rio de Janeiro, jets of water erode the rock, flying fish and sea creatures surround the ship, cats enjoy the flying fish landing aboard. Beautiful visual quality on the restoration.