Wunder der Schöpfung is an extraordinary, fascinating Kulturfilm trying to explain the whole human knowledge of the 1920s about the world and the universe. 15 special effects experts and 9 cameramen were involved in the production of this film which combines documentary scenes, historical documents, fiction elements, animation scenes and educational impact. It its beautifully colored, using tinting and toning in a very elaborated way. Some visual ideas in the sequences with a space shuttle visiting different planets in the universe seem to have to be the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey. In the context of Germany's Kulturfilm phenomenon, Wunder der Schöpfung was among the greatest achievements of the 1920s. The production was constructed, rehearsed, and shot over a period of two and a half years, under the supervision of Hanns Walter Kornblum. The idea to describe the universe and man's place in it well suited UFA's Grossfilm mentality, one year before the Metropolis catastrophe. Hundreds of skilled craftsmen participated in the project, building props and constructing scale models drawn by 15 special effects draughtsmen, while 9 cameramen in separate units worked on the historical, documentary, fiction, animation, and science-fiction sequences. Without star roles or even protagonists, the film's plot is crowded with meticulously structured and skillfully acted single scenes an artful mosaic of small vignettes. No less than four credited university professors ensured the factual background behind the scientific and historical events portrayed. The film's symbol of progress and the new scientific era is a spacecraft, travelling through the Milky Way, making all the planets and their inspiring worlds familiar to us, with the extravaganza of their distinctive features. The film's educational intentions, however, become steadily more obscure, humorous, or even campy as this popularization project proceeds. With the excuse of presenting the end of the world a not-so-new concept as a new, undeniably scientific truth, the film veers happily along a new path, displaying detailed apocalyptic scenes of the end of mankind. For today's audiences, this amazing film demonstrates how the universe was comprehended in the 1920s, and how that view was sold to contemporary audiences.
Different Drummers is based on a true story about two unusual boys in Spokane, Washington in the mid 1960s. In this more innocent time, when body builder Jack Lalanne ruled the airwaves, the two heroes, a couple of elementary school students, make a bold attempt to triumph over mortality through friendship. Eleven year old David is slowing down and is now wheelchair-bound by muscular dystrophy, while Lyle can't stop speeding up. Back then, he was referred to as having a condition called MDB (Minimal Brain Dysfunction) but today he would be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Lyle wants more than anything to get David out of his wheelchair and running again, and he concocts a wild scheme involving a science project, some firemen, drummers, the school principal, a cop and a hand-walk across the school gymnasium, among other things. It works like this Inspired by his TV idol, Lalanne, and his message of intestinal fortitude and willpower, Lyle manages to convince David that ...
