Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

S.O.S. Eisberg - 44 Original Photographs [WITH] S.O.S. Eisberg. Mit Dr. Fanck und Ernst Udet in Grönland. Die Grönland-Expedition des Universal-Films S.O.S. Eisberg [WITH] SOS Eisberg Sammelalbum with mounted collector pictures

Kohner, Paul (Production)

Berlin: Deutsche Universal-Film AG, 1933. Original photographs. Loose leaf. Film stills and production photographs (app. 9 x 7") of the 1933 German-US drama film directed by Arnold Fanck. Filmed on location in Uummannaq, Northwest Greenland, Island and the the Bernina Alps, on the border of Switzerland and Italy, it tells the story of an Arctic expedition in search of a party that went missing in the previous year. The film script was written by Tom Reed based on a story by Arnold Fanck and Friedrich Wolf (Wolf's credits were removed after the takeover by the Nazis due to the fact that he was Jewish and a member of the Communist Party).

Starring Gustav Diessl, Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, Gibson Gowland, Rod la Roque, and Ernst Udet, the film was shot simultaneously in German and English and released in Nazi Germany and the United States. The lead role in German played by Diessl, in English by Tod la Roque. Leni Riefenstahl costarred with Diessl and Udet in the German, with la Roque and Gowland in the English version.

The collection features photographs taken before departure of the expedition, on various locations and group photographs including one with Paul Kohner and actors Gibson Gowland, Sepp Rist and Rod La Roque, Gowland and Sepp Rist, another with the movie cast including Leni Riefenstahl, and others featuring Arnold Fanck, respectively members of the cast and crew.

Each original photograph measures appr. 9 1/4 x 6 3/4"

All but four photographs are stamped on verso "Aus dem Weltfilm der Universal Der Paul Kohner Produktion S.O.S. Eisberg. Dieses Foto dart nur veröffentlicht werden mit dem Vermerk: Universal-Fanck-Grönland-Expedition Foto: Vogel-Sandau" and numbered in pencil. Two photographs are stamped and credited to Gisela Lindeck, Berlin-Halensee, on versos, one stamped "Aus dem Welfilm..." but unnumbered, and one w/o stamp and inked number 14.

[WITH]

S.O.S. Eisberg. Mit Dr. Fanck und Ernst Udet in Grönland. Die Grönland-Expedition des Universal-Films S.O.S. Eisberg by Arnold Fanck. München. F. Bruckmann AG. 1933. First edition.

Quarto. 68pp (text), 64pp (plates). Original photographic stiff boards, with white and green lettering on front cover. "S.O.S. Eisberg" documents the 1933 expedition in Northwest-Greenland, for the filming of the German-US drama film of the same name directed by Arnold Fanck and starring Gustav Diessl, Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, Gibson Gowland, Rod La Roque, and Ernst Udet, the second-highest scoring German flying ace of WWI. In the same year that she directed "Sieg des Glaubens" (English: Victory of Faith) (1933), her first of several famous cinematic projects for the Nazi Party, German actress and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl played a supporting role in this epic adventure, co-written and co-directed by her frequent "mountain film" collaborator Dr. Arnold Fanck.

Rod La Rocque stars as Dr. Carl Lawrence, leader of a mission to Greenland to recover the lost records of the ill-fated, real-life Alfred Lothar Wegener polar expedition of 1929-30. Lawrence's party includes experienced explorer/guides, as well as an adventure-seeking financier, who is in over his head and slowly driven mad by the perils of the voyage. When Lawrence's band is trapped on an iceberg, Lawrence's wife Ellen (Leni Riefenstahl) - a famous female pilot fashioned after Amelia Earhart - takes off on a rescue mission, but she crashes her aircraft upon landing and is stranded along with the others. Before total disaster claims the Lawrence party, however, native eskimos and Major Ernst Udet (playing himself) arrive via kayak to save the day. Two surviving members of the Wegener party served as advisors for this well-received Man vs. Nature treatise, filmed on location in Greenland, Iceland, and in the Bernina Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It was filmed simultaneously in German and English, and released by Universal Studios in both Germany and the United States. The film premiered on August 30, 1933 in Berlin. Among its stars were Leni Riefenstahl, who had just made her directorial debut in "Das blaue Licht" (The Blue Light) (1932), and would go on to direct "Triumph des Willens" (Triumph of the Will) (1934), "Olympia" (1938), and "Tiefland" (1954). Riefenstahl co-starred with Gustav Diessl and Ernst Udet in the German version "S.O.S. Eisberg," and with Gibson Gowland and Rod La Rocque in the English version "S.O.S. Iceberg."

This volume is profusely illustrated with captioned photogravures depicting striking landscapes, movie scenes, as well as snapshots of what went on behind the scenes. Interestingly, the film was financed by Hollywood film pioneer and founder of Universal Studios, Carl Laemmle. Minor age wear, scuffing and creasing on binding. Head and tail of spine slightly rubbed. Last five leaves on bottom corner slightly creased. Text in German, gothic script. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in good+ to very good condition.

[WITH]

SOS Eisberg Sammelalbum with mounted collector pictures (complete). Berlin. Deutsche Universal-Film A.G. 1933. First edition. Octavo. Unpaginated (24pp.). Original color illustrated string-bound wraps with black, red and yellow lettering on cover. Includes film credits on the title page. This popular rendition of the Paul Kohner production SOS Eisberg, with cover design of a Greenland map with indigenous people by Georg Goedecker, gives a descriptive overview of the film, highlighting challenges during the filming. Contributions by Leni Riefenstahl, Sepp Rist, and short bios of participants. It is illlustrated with forty photogravure pictures (2 1/5 x 3 1 /2") depicting film scenes and actors, to be obtained separately and glued into the fields designated in the booklet, additional drawings, including a caricature by Ernst Udet, as well as photographs used as backdrops for the text. Text in German. Wraps with light wear along edges, small chips, and reinforced with tape on inside covers. Wraps in overall good, interior in very good conditon. Very good condition. Item #43444

Price: $3,750.00