The Wonders of Film: An Industrial Ode to Work in Kulturfilm

Die Wunder des Films is one of several German films from the 1920s that thematized filmmaking through the re-use of existing archival footage. Other titles include Friedrich Porges’s Der Film im Film from 1924 and the Ufa production Henny Porten. Leben und Laufbahn einer Filmkünstlerin (Henny Porten: Life and Career of a Film Artist) from 1928. These were often classified as “cross-section films” (Querschnittsfilme), because they presented viewers with significant samples (i.e., a cross-section) of a given sector of contemporary film production. But Die Wunder des Films is unique in its focus on Kulturfilm – scientific, educational, and promotional film – rather than the entertainment industry and its stars. The film’s director, Edgar Beyfuß (1893-1936), was not only a producer of Kulturfilms, but also a prolific writer and lecturer on the topic, who edited the monumental Kulturfilmbuch of 1924.