EMDEN FILM FALLS A LITTLE FLAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 188, 29 October 1927, Page 23 (Supplement)

EMDEN FILM FALLS A LITTLE FLAT

FAMOUS CRUISER’S EXPLOITS

VIEWS OF ENGLISH CRITIC

Here is an English critic’s view of the “Film of the Emden," the German picture which created something of a sensation when first exhibited in the Fatherland. “If the German film was rather less interesting- that one had hoped, it was principally because the story of that lone cruiser’s exploits seemed less startling on the screen than in memory.

“This famous warship, commanded by Captain Karl von Muller, played havoc with Allied merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean in the autumn of

1914. until put out of action by the’ Australian cruiser Sydney. “All the chief incidents the film shows in a straightforward and capable manner, but without inspiration or even—what one looks for in German films—spectacular photography or ingenious direction. “Certainly a great many people will be curious to see what a German naval war-film looks like, and though this was made for German audiences it is admirably free from bombast or sentiment likely to prove distasteful to British audiences, though some of the British officers in the picture gesticulate in the oddest manner. On the other hand, the bravery of British seamen is recorded as well as that of Germans. “Can this, perhaps, be a reason why the film seems a little flat, since one is so accustomed in cinemas to see only one side of any question at a time? “Tlje Emden” will undoubtedly give rise to a great deal of discussion.