Atlantis

Atlantis is a 1913 Danish silent film directed by August Blom, the head of production at the Nordisk Film company, and was based upon the 1912 novel by Gerhart Hauptmann. It starred an international cast headlined by Danish matinée actor Olaf Fønss and Austrian opera diva Ida Orloff. The story, which tells the tale of a doctor who travels to the United States in search of a cure for his ailing wife, includes the tragic sinking of an ocean liner after it strikes an object at sea. Released only one year after the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the film drew considerable attention as well as criticism due to similarities to the actual tragedy. The high production costs for Atlantis were not equaled by box office returns at that time. However, the film went on to become the most watched film for Nordisk Film and has been hailed by film historian Erik Ulrichsen as a Danish masterpiece and "one of the first modern films." Plot Dr. Friedrich von Kammacher (Olaf Fønss), a surgeon, is devastated after his wife develops a brain disorder and is institutionalized. On the advice of his parents, von Kammacher leaves Denmark to gain some respite from his wife's illness. Von Kammacher travels to Berlin, where he meets a young dancer named Ingigerd Hahlstrom (Ida Orloff) and the doctor becomes fond of her and very interested in her. However she has a large number of admirers and thus Von Kammacher gives up on her. However, while in Paris he sees an advertisement in the paper that she is going to New York with her father and decides to follow her. Von Kammacher buys a first class ticket on the same liner as Ingigerd, the SS Roland. Aboard the ship, von Kammacher learns Ingigerd has a boyfriend with her and thus he backs down. Shortly after, he is called to treat a young Russian-Jewish woman with seasickness and they nearly get romantically involved but class stops this from happening.