"La Fin du Monde", a film by Abel Gance was loosely adapted from the French astronomer Camille Flammarion's "Omega - The Last days of the World".
Occasionally panned, I consider this film a visual mini-masterpiece. Much of the "trick" camera work found in Gance's short experimental film "The Madness of Dr. Tube" from 1915 is put to use this time more toward creating an actual narrative. Made circa 1930, Gance also added sound to La Fin du Monde (but some of the story is accompanied by title cards). Although dialogue is minimal, the sound effects add unique touches as well. The sound of the "wind" as the comet approaches and as the camera switches to various parts of the globe were especially effective to my mind.
In spite of a central character, the plot really is not about any particular character per se. Instead (and this is where you either love it or hate it) it is about "big ideas".
Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the movie was removed for the American release as "The End of the World". Tacked on for American viewing was an introduction by Dr. Clyde Fisher of the Museum of Natural History . The full feature still exists apparently. Prints of it are around in several private collections and it has recently aired on French TV. La Fin du Monde cries out for a nice letterboxed DVD of the full film. Also in existence is a segment in a documentary called "Abel Gance at Work" about the making of the film. Put this together with the American intro and there are could be some nice extra features too. A little bit on Flammarion's novel as well something on the very obscure film novelization by one Joachim Renez would be welcome as well.
"The End of the World" strikes me as one of those films that, although not literally adapted from its written source, had exactly the right person to capture the "essence" of it.
Flammarion's novel was written in a time (1894) when an educated man of science also considered such subjects as philosophy and theology to be within his realm. As such, it reads as kind of a dead-end branch on the evolutionary tree of written science fiction. Most of the characters are props to creatively express Flammarion's thoughts.
The first few chapters discuss at scientific length the many ways in which a comet could destroy the Earth. These are followed by further scientific speculations on how the world will end anyway if it survives the comet. Then come religious discussions about how Armageddon will take place.
As in the film, ultimately the comet does not totally kill off the human race.
However, Flammarion's story later moves forward in time from the 25th century to the even more distant future. At this point we are introduced to Earth's last inhabitants, "Omegar" and "Eva", in (as you can guess) what was a less cliché ending back then. Gance fortunately did not put these parts in his film.
written: 12/3/2001
revised: 2/10/2003, 3/4/2004
