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Ernst Busch, Andree Ducret, Georges Charlia, Héléna Manson, Alexander Granach ... see more see more... , Elisabeth Wendt , Daniel Mandaille , Fritz Kampers , Pierre Louis , Alex Bernard , Gustav Püttjer , Daniel Granach

Kameradschaft is set in a mining community on the French/German frontier, where several French miners are trapped in a cave-in. Their only hope for rescue lies in a long-abandoned underground tunnel, ... read more read more...buried since the First World War. Ignoring the ethnic and political differences that have long separated the two countries, a group of German miners pick their way through the old tunnel to save the entombed Frenchmen. They do this despite the reluctance of the mine owners, who'd rather keep the nationalistic lines drawn, no matter how many lives it costs. When asked why they're willing to rescue the same people who'd forced their country into bankruptcy after the war, the German workmen reply "Miners are miners." Once the Frenchmen are brought to surface, however, the owners see to it that the borders knocked down by the Germans are quickly replaced; everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. Ironically, the German public, whose decency and humanity is celebrated in Kameradschaft, tended to avoid the film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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81% liked it

164 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 20 min.

Directed by: Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Release Date: January 1, 1931

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Flixster Reviews (17)


  • fb1142797643
    November 12, 2011
    fb1142797643
    G.W. Pabst directed this inspiring tale of a French coal-mine accident and the German miners who cross the border to help rescue the buried men. The film's realism is remarkable, such that it's hard to even imagine the sets' construction or how all the cave-ins and underground fi... read moreres were staged. On the other hand, the procedural intrigue usually found in this sort of story is missing -- the action merely shows rescuers going down and dragging survivors back to the surface. Not much else. The accident's scope doesn't quite register either -- we're told that 600 miners are stranded (most of them killed, presumably), but the depiction gives no sense of such a huge disaster. Scattered people are pulled out, and the people gaily celebrate. Happy ending?

    Perhaps not. Make sure to see the German cut! I researched the film afterwards, and found that the German version is seven minutes longer than the American cut I saw on TCM. The longer version is on YouTube, and has an opening prologue and cynical closing scene that markedly improve the film. Minus the crucial final scene, "Kameradschaft" has more of a "hooray for Germany!" tone that's mighty tough to swallow considering what happened in Germany just a few years after the film's release.

    Rating: three stars for the US version, and three and a half for the German version.

Critic Reviews


Dennis Schwartz
June 3, 2011
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Pabst offers the hopeful message of international brotherhood that goes beyond borders and makes the tragedy into a parable on world peace. Full Review

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