Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s mine disaster saga is both a stirring social drama and a remarkable feat of technical engineering — the underground cave-ins and gas-fed fires are still frightening in their realism. Criterion’s extras offer critical and historical context for a pacifist statement filmed during a tense political time in France and Germany.

Kameradschaft

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 908

1931 / B&W / 1:19 flat full frame / 88 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 30, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Daniel Mendaille, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt.

Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner

Film Editor: Jean Oser

Set design: Ernö Metzner, Karl Vollbrecht

Original Music: G. von Regelius

Written by Ladislaus Vajda, Peter Martin Lampel, Herbert Rappaport, Karl Otten, Anna Gmeyner.

Produced by Seymour Nebenzal, Nero-Film Ag

Directed by G. W. Pabst

G.W. Pabst could seemingly do no wrong in the German silent film industry. His string of silent pictures gained classic status, and