Nov 16th
Kameradshaft***
Ger/Fra 1931. Gaumont- Franco film-Aubert/Nero Film AG. 91m. bw

In a Franco-German border town a mine explodes, and the German miners defy the border controls to help rescue the trapped French miners.
Powerfully moving social melodrama based on the Courieres mine disaster in 1906, here transposed for added effect to between-the-wars Europe, laying home its Socialist message rather heavily, but acutely observes some of the human tragedy and the disaster itself is brilliantly captured with scary authenticity. It couldn't be more relevant today, in the wake of the ongoing debate about migrant workers as well as the recent mining disasters in New Zealand and Chile.

Written by: Peter Martin Lampel, Karl Otten, Gerbert Rappaport, Ladislaus Vajda, Leon Wurth.
Producer: Seymour Nebenzal.
Director: G.W. Pabst (and Robert Beaudoin)
Starring (in no particular order): Alexander Granach, Fritza Kampers, Ernst Busch, Helena Manson, Daniel Mendaille, Georges Chalia, Andree Ducret, Alex Bernard, Pierre Louis, Elisabeth Wendt.
Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Robert Baberske.
Music: G. van Rigelus

+ available on YouTube