Der magische Gürtel - 1917
ABOUT THE FILM : Der magische Gürtel
The Imperial War Museum Film and Video ArchiveThe Enchanted Circle
Year: 1917
31 March 1917. The opposing sides were starting to make serious efforts to secure media attention. U-35, a star performer in the German navy, leaves the submarine base at Cattaro (modern Kotor, in Montenegro) for a mission in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. The presence of a camera on board ensures that the commander’s destructive exploits are immortalised.
In the next 36 days, U-35 sinks 23 enemy and neutral ships – 10 of the sinkings are captured on film. As in the stereotype picture of submarine attacks, torpedoes fired from underwater without warning are sometimes used, but more often the enemy ship is subdued in a gunnery duel fought on the surface, or halted by a warning shot across the bows. Its sailors are allowed to take to the boats (though the captain might be taken into captivity), before the ship is sunk by demolition charge, torpedo or further shell-fire.
Between actions, everyday life on the submarine carries on. It is actions of this kind that are recorded in the film. While providing authentic views of the First World War ‘Handelskrieg’ (war on trade) in the Mediterranean, this is nonetheless a rather idealised vision of submarine warfare, serving the needs of German propaganda.
Nationality: German
Length: 44' 45"
Genre: documentary
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: tinted
Producer: Bufa (Königliche Bild- und Film-Amt)
Composer: Ian Lynn (in 2000)
Original language: German
A BRIEF HISTORY : Der magische Gürtel
Captain Lothar von Arnauld de la Périère (1886-1941) had command of the U-35 from January 1916 to March 1918, before transferring to another ship. His personal ‘score’ for enemy vessels sunk was 194 ships – enough to give him first place on the list of German submarine ‘aces’ and to earn him the Pour le Mérite, or ‘Blue Max’, Germany’s highest decoration.
The U-35’s score was still higher. Under the command of von Arnauld and her other captains, U-35 sank a total of 224 ships before the war’s end. The rather unexpected title for this film comes from a fairly free translation of one of Winston Churchill's speeches.
Churchill used the phrase The Enchanted Circle to compare the effect of German submarines on Britain to a sorcerer’s spell in a fairy story – the kind of spell that confines the hero or heroine, like the magic forest in Sleeping Beauty. The German phrase Der magische Gürtel recalls a different kind of spell, a magic talisman that gives the wearer added strength Although originally made for a German audience, the film was also shown in the opposite camp.
After the war, France, Great Britain, and the United States all issued versions of the film with the picture content little changed, but with new title cards to denounce U-35’s actions as acts of piracy. A combination of elements coming from different film archives has made it possible to rebuild and restore the film to its present state. This version is closer to the original and more complete than any that has been seen since before the Second World War.
Colours have been added to the final version to replicate the tinting and toning effects found in a surviving nitrate print, and a new score, composed by Ian Lynn in 2000, adds extra atmosphere to these unfamiliar images.
