Foreign films are where it's at for 1931. They were consistently good: "M," "Tabu," "Girls in Uniform," and "Comradeship."
"Comradeship" is based upon the historic Courrieres mining disaster of March 1906 where 1200 French miners were buried alive and Germans came to help. I don't know what German-French relations were like in 1906, but I do know they soured by WWI and were even worse during WWII. "Comradeship" is merely based upon the 1906 disaster, but took place in the present day (1931) which meant that this film was consciously trying to show a unified France and Germany as opposed to a fighting France and Germany.
The fictitious Thibault mine had an explosion and a cave-in which trapped 600 French miners. German miners could see smoke from the Thibault mine on their side of the border. One German boldly proclaimed that he was going over to France to help the trapped miners in spite of whatever feud existed between the two countries. "A miner is a miner," he said, and we can extend that to mean a human being is a human being. HIs determination lit a fuse under the other miners who joined him in the rescue effort though it meant blowing through French customs.
I loved the plot, but that was easy. Who doesn't love a movie about comradeship, partnership, and lending a helping hand, especially to a person or people who were considered foes? I also loved the production. It looked like a big budget movie with the set, the pyrotechnics, the crumbling cave, and the many extras used. It was a 1931 disaster movie.
The combination of props, set design, coordination and plot were masterful. Everyone loves people putting aside their differences in order to come together for things that are more important like human lives. A movie like "Comradeship" will always be celebrated so long as it's not done in a pedantic, exaggerated, pour it on thick, look-at-me-I'm-promoting-unity type of way like a Kardashian Pepsi commercial. Nor can it be done in a patronistic savior way where the outsider hero joins the feuding natives ala "Avatar." Let the movie unfold naturally, let the human kindness rise to the surface organically as "Comradeship" did and you're sure to have admirers.
HBO Max.
"Comradeship" is based upon the historic Courrieres mining disaster of March 1906 where 1200 French miners were buried alive and Germans came to help. I don't know what German-French relations were like in 1906, but I do know they soured by WWI and were even worse during WWII. "Comradeship" is merely based upon the 1906 disaster, but took place in the present day (1931) which meant that this film was consciously trying to show a unified France and Germany as opposed to a fighting France and Germany.
The fictitious Thibault mine had an explosion and a cave-in which trapped 600 French miners. German miners could see smoke from the Thibault mine on their side of the border. One German boldly proclaimed that he was going over to France to help the trapped miners in spite of whatever feud existed between the two countries. "A miner is a miner," he said, and we can extend that to mean a human being is a human being. HIs determination lit a fuse under the other miners who joined him in the rescue effort though it meant blowing through French customs.
I loved the plot, but that was easy. Who doesn't love a movie about comradeship, partnership, and lending a helping hand, especially to a person or people who were considered foes? I also loved the production. It looked like a big budget movie with the set, the pyrotechnics, the crumbling cave, and the many extras used. It was a 1931 disaster movie.
The combination of props, set design, coordination and plot were masterful. Everyone loves people putting aside their differences in order to come together for things that are more important like human lives. A movie like "Comradeship" will always be celebrated so long as it's not done in a pedantic, exaggerated, pour it on thick, look-at-me-I'm-promoting-unity type of way like a Kardashian Pepsi commercial. Nor can it be done in a patronistic savior way where the outsider hero joins the feuding natives ala "Avatar." Let the movie unfold naturally, let the human kindness rise to the surface organically as "Comradeship" did and you're sure to have admirers.
HBO Max.