Gold (1934 Film) | Hacker News Reader

Gold (1934 Film)

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Somewhat a precursor: "F.P.1 antwortet nicht" (F.P.1 Doesn't Answer), 1932. The film was shot in three versions, German, French, and English, each with distinctive lead actors. Hans Albers, lead actor of the German version, and director Karl Hartl then teamed up for "Gold". (Hartl filmed "Tunnel", another success, in-between these two.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.P.1

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022869/

German version (English captions available): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOkl0rjjMjQ

As far as i can tell, Hartl had nothing to do with Tunnel. What am i missing?

Ah, yes, my bad, quoting Wikipedia of all things!

> Director Karl Hartl developed Gold after the international success of his previous science fiction film Der Tunnel.

However, "Der Tunnel" (1933) was of course directed by Curtis Bernhardt (producer: Ernst Garden). I can't see, as well, where Hartl would have been involved.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024703/

https://www.filmdienst.de/film/details/14338/der-tunnel-1933

Thanks for the correction!

regarding the surname "Hartl" I suspected he was from Austria and the WP-article confirms it. Interestingly some German names are tied to some region, some times you even can pin a surname to some town or village

As a place, it's quite strongly connected to Styria (6 out of total 8 Hartl are located in Styria and all Hartl are in Austria.) Surprisingly, as a surname Hartl is more common in Germany – but Austria is still a viable contender. :-) [1]

[1] https://de.namespedia.com/details/Hartl

> a surname Hartl is more common in Germany – but Austria is still a viable contender

The maps in the link point to Bavaria as the place for the German Hartls and Upper Austria for the Austrian Hartls. I would not be surprised if most of the Bavarian Hartls were from Lower Bavaria (or migrants from there to Munich), which borders on Upper Austria. For historical dialect geography, this would be the same area.[1][2]

[1] See the Map on German dialects aprox. 1900 at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_dialects The relevant area is no. 27. "Central Bavarian". Or this map of dialects aprox. 1945 (the medium blue are no 7): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_language#/media/File:...

[2] Note that in written German there is a distinction that is lost in English spelling between the state of Bavaria ("Bayern", adj. "bayerisch") and the dialect (or some might even claim language -- it has its own ISO 639-3 code "bar") Bavarian ("Bairisch").

Although the film looks interesting and probably I am going to watch it... What was the motive to post it? Or particularly, why did you think it's interesting to the community? (Not saying it isn't)

The article mentions that the director made a previous science fiction film, The Tunnel. But i don't think he did - that was made by someone else, and it's about the construction of a trans-Atlantic tunnel which ends in disaster [1]. He did make F. P. 1, about the construction of a mid-Atlantic airport island which ends in disaster [2]. I note that The Tunnel was re-made in English (or re-adapted from the source novel) the next year [3].

Seems there was a good market for films about disasters under the Atlantic (or North Sea, at a pinch).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tunnel_(1933_German-langua...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.P.1

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tunnel_(1935_film)

Here's a link to the movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LDXcyJ2x5M

Alternative links to same:

https://invidious.namazso.eu/watch?v=1LDXcyJ2x5M&quality=hd7...

https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=1LDXcyJ2x5M&quality=hd720

It was very common to shoot a picture concurrently in different languages at the time.

Often with some lead playing the same role, as does Brigitte Helm in the French and German versions of 'Gold'.

Another such example is 'Andalusian Nights'[1] (German) with Imperio Argentina reprising her role in the Spanish version of that film, 'Carmen de la Trirana'.

The opening has phenomenal cinematography, editing and singing btw.[2]

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nights_in_Andalusia

[2] https://youtu.be/k42w7axKju4

It was even common to shoot multiple identical takes in the same language and create multiple cuts of the negative. The process of making positive film prints wasn’t refined back then, it wore out the negatives, and so having multiple negative cuts enabled the producer to make more prints of a popular film.

I love that trope of the maverick hero embarking on his mission reflected by their loved ones, left behind, as in, "Ich weiß mir keinen Rat mehr, Frau Schmidt." (I don't know what to do anymore, Mrs. Schmidt.) – We don't get to see this anymore… :-)

https://youtu.be/1LDXcyJ2x5M?t=1123

Relevant: The Counterfeiters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Counterfeiters_(2007_film)

Excellent film. Very memorable.

The impressive visual effects from the climax of Gold were used in the last part of the film The Magnetic Monster. When I saw that film, I thought it was bizarre how the effects suddenly got so much fancier. I eventually learned they had reused the Gold footage.

The Large Hadron Collider enables CERN scientists to create gold atoms.

From which raw material?

From the Small Hadron Collider depicted in the film . . .

The paper abstract says "The yield of 18 ion beams of radioactive gold nuclei produced in the thick uranium target".

But gold, as in, gold isotopes in high intensity radioactive beams, not gold bars. In general the ISOLDE-CERN factility can creat radioactive beams of high isotopic purity. This facility has produced isotopes of 74 elements.

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