The Wonders of Film: An Industrial Ode to Work in Kulturfilm Trailer (1929)

09 February 1929 50 mins

Die Wunder des Films is one of several German films from the 1920s that thematized filmmaking through the re-use of existing archival footage. Other titles include Friedrich Porges’s Der Film im Film from 1924 and the Ufa production Henny Porten. Leben und Laufbahn einer Filmkünstlerin (Henny Porten: Life and Career of a Film Artist) from 1928. These were often classified as “cross-section films” (Querschnittsfilme), because they presented viewers with significant samples (i.e., a cross-section) of a given sector of contemporary film production. But Die Wunder des Films is unique in its focus on Kulturfilm – scientific, educational, and promotional film – rather than the entertainment industry and its stars. The film’s director, Edgar Beyfuß (1893-1936), was not only a producer of Kulturfilms, but also a prolific writer and lecturer on the topic, who edited the monumental Kulturfilmbuch of 1924.

Watch the official The Wonders of Film: An Industrial Ode to Work in Kulturfilm 1929 trailer in HD below.