造物的奇迹

Wun 
der der Schöpfung is an extraordin a ry, fascin at
ing Kult urfilm trying to e
xplai n the whole  h uman knowledge of th
e 1920s about the 
world and the univ erse. 15 special effec
ts  ex 
perts and 9 camer  amen were involved in the production of th is film w
hich combines 
documentary scenes, historic al documents, ficti
on e
 lements, ani m

ati
on sc en es and edu
 cational impa
ct. It its beautifully colored, u sing tinti
ng and toning in a very elaborated way. Som e visu  al ideas in the sequence s with a space shuttle visiting different

 plan ets 
in t
he  univers

e seem to have t
o be the inspiration
 for Stanley
 Kubrick's 2001 A 
Sp ace


Odyssey. 　　In the co ntext of Germany's Kult
urfilm
phenom enon , Wunde
r der  Schöpfung was among the great e st achiev ements of the 1920s. The pr
oduction was constructed, rehearsed,   and shot o ver a period of two and a half  year s, under the supervi sion   of Hanns Walter Kornblum.  The idea to des cribe the univ
 erse and 

man's place in i t  well s ui
ted U FA's
 Gr  ossfilm mentality,
 one year b efore the Metro polis
 catas
trophe. Hund reds of skilled craf

tsmen participated in the  pro
ject, bu  ilding props an d constructing scale mode ls drawn  by 15  speci
a
 l effects drau ghtsme n, while 9 came ramen in separa te units worked on the historica
l, docu mentary, fiction, anim atio n, an

d scienc e-fiction sequ ences. Witho ut star  roles or even protago nists, t he film's
pl ot is  crowded with metic ulously st ru c tured and sk il lfully 
acted single scenes an
artful mosaic of small  vignettes. No less than f our cre dited 
university p rofessors  ensured the  fa ctual background behind the scientific and histori  cal events po rtrayed.　 　The film's symbol of pr
og ress and the
 n 
ew scientific  era is a s  pacecraft, travel ling th rough the Milky Way, makin
g al l the pla nets and 
 their inspiring worlds fa
mi liar to us, w

ith the  extrava
ganza o  f their distinc
t
ive features. The  film's  educational int e ntions, however,  become steadi 
ly more obscure, humo
ro
us, or eve
n campy as this popularization project proceeds. With the e xcus
 e of presenting the end of the world a not-s
o-new conce pt a s a new, undeniably scientifi
c truth, t h e  film veer s happily along a n 
ew path, displayin
g detailed apo calyptic scenes o
f th
e end of mankind. F or today's audiences,
 this amazing film demonstrates
 how the uni verse w as c ompre hended in the
1920s 
, and how that view w as sol d to contempo
rar y audie
nces.