| Our Heavenly Bodies | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Hanns Walter Kornblum (animated scenes) Johannes Meyer Rudolf Biebrach |
| Written by | Hanns Walter Kornblum Ernst Krieger |
| Starring | Paul Bildt,Willy Kaiser-Heyl,Theodor Loos,Oscar Marion |
| Cinematography | (animated scenes) Hermann Boeheln, Otto von Bothmer, Wera Cleve, Bodo Kuntze, Eowald Matthias Schumacher, (nature and studio scenes) Max Brinck, Friedrich Paulmann, Hans Scholz, Friedrich Weinmann |
| Music by | Ignatz Waghalter (composer of score) |
Production companies | Kultur department of theUniversum-Film AG (Ufa) and Colonna-film G.m.b.H. |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 min |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German silent |
Our Heavenly Bodies (German:Wunder der Schöpfung, literally:Wonder of the Creation) is a 1925 Germaneducational film written byHanns Walter Kornblum andErnst Krieger which attempts to represent everything known about thecosmos at the time. It covers the origin and mechanics of theSolar System,gravitation, thestars, and the nature ofgalaxies.
The film is a prime example of the early German "Kulturfilm", which are regarded as predecessors of the modern film documentary.[1]It features a large variety of special effects and animations, as well as fantastical depictions of travel around the Solar System and to the stars. Prints werecolor-tinted andcolor-toned for effect.[2][3]
The film has been reconstructed in 2008 byMunich Film Archive[4] using material from theNational Audiovisual Institute (Finland)[5] in Helsinki and theDeutsche Kinemathek in Berlin. The current rights holder is theFriedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation.[2][6]
1) On the Road to Truth (German:Auf dem Weg zur Wahrheit)
A history ofcosmology.
2) The Night Sky (German:Der nächtliche Himmel)
The Moon: its motion and faces, its tides, lunar eclipses; the fixed stars,Berlin-Babelsberg Observatory,constellations, theNorth Star,comets,meteors andfalling stars.
3) The Star of Day (German:Das Gestirn des Tages)
Sunspots,auroras,solar eclipse,solar prominences, night, day andmeridians, heating of the equator vs. poles, earthlyseasons.
4) A Flight to the Moon (German:Ein Flug zum Mond)
Introduces a "fantasty ship" pulled by "huge electrical energies", calls it a "space ship". Depicts its launch, discusses the nature of thevacuum of space, the idea of a Moon-day, the Earth as seen from the Moon.
5) The Sun's Children (German:Der Sonne Kinder)
Continues the imaginary journey toMercury (mentions that it's thought that Mercury always presents the same face to the Sun),Venus,Mars, its seasons and polar caps, the observed canals. Depicts an imaginary landing, and people bouncing around in reduced gravity.Asteroids.A depiction ofGulliver's Travels inLilliput illustratesJupiter's size.The moons of Jupiter. Depicts a person labouring to crawl on the surface of Jupiter, and giants residing on Jupiter.Saturn's rings as "numberless small bodies", depicts the rings as seen from Saturn, and Saturn's moons;Uranus;Neptune, its discovery, and its one big moon.
6) At the Gates of Infinity (German:An den Toren der Unendlichkeit)
Explains that there is no up or down in space, and attempts to show people in zero gravity;discussesnebulas.The travellers use a flat view screen to look back on Earth, where they witness historical events.As the ship proceeds to travel faster than light, the travellers view the same historical events in reverse.The ship then proceeds much faster than light to visitbinary stars —Algol,globular cluster. The fantasy comes to an end as they leave the last star of theMilky Way. (In 1924 it was controversial whether the Milky Way comprised the universe or not.[7])
7) Becoming and Waning in Outer Space (German:Werden und Vergehen im Weltenraum)
Discusses the relative movements of stars; that the shape ofconstellations is a matter of perspective;a mass of gas taking a spiral disk shape, wherein knots form to become planets — in their youth as gas, forming a solid kernel — formation of (terrestrial) planets;erosion of surface of Earth, prehistoric creatures.Speculates on the future of the Earth — shows people freezing, then a very extended depiction of the world burning up upon being hit by another heavenly body.
Scientific review:
Constructions:
"Thanks to"
The film is described as being "overwhelming", a "wild success" at the time, in contrast with the Ufa's later, better known productionMetropolis.[8]
Scenes of the film are often described as forerunners of space science-fiction films,especiallyStanley Kubrick's2001: A Space Odyssey.[9]The spirit and content of the film more closely parallels that ofCarl Sagan's TV seriesCosmos: A Personal Voyage.[1]