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Clip description
The Emden puts to sea, from the harbour at Tsingtao (Qingdao) on the Chinese coast, a German colony. Old sailors and enthusiastic crowds farewell the ship, as the radio brings further news from Europe. The war that began a few days earlier has grown – Germany is now at war with Great Britain. The news also reaches the passenger ship Diplomat, bringing Meta and her sister to Tsingtao. In the south, Australia and New Zealand hear ‘the motherland’s call’.
Curator’s notes
One of the many enduring mysteries of this film is the identity of the ship the German filmmakers used to represent the Emden. Obviously, it’s not the first Emden, and unlikely to be the second, as that Emden was in French hands, as spoils of war. That ship was finally scrapped only in 1926, which means it’s just possible that the filmmakers could have used it, but highly unlikely. The third Emden was commissioned in 1925 and it was the first new ship built in Germany after the First World War. Given that the German navy was secretly promoting itself through film, this appears to be the prime candidate, except there was one problem. The new Emden was a different design, with only a passing resemblance to the pre-war Emden. This might explain why many of the shots of the ship at sea – as in the later part of this clip – show the ship front on, or from the rear. It’s more difficult to count smokestacks that way, the most conspicuous difference between Emden I (three stacks) and Emden III (two stacks).
If the filmmakers did use Emden III for shots at sea, they did not use it for the departure shots at the start of this clip. The ship we see being waved off at the dock is not the third Emden, because the forward portholes are quite different. The German navy did launch a number of new vessels in 1925 and 1926, mostly from their North Sea base at Wilhelmshaven. This is the most likely location for these farewell scenes, rather than the real Tsingtao harbour.
An interesting aspect of Louis Ralph’s direction here is the mixed emotions we see, as the ship leaves port. Many of the young people cheer and wave, the sailors wave back and cheer, but Ralph shows us old sailors who appear to have mixed feelings. The scene is more than simple propaganda and flag-waving. Ralph also takes a lot of trouble to indicate the sense of chaos and confusion among civilians caught up in the outbreak of war in the scenes aboard the Diplomat, a civilian ship, probably British, carrying passengers to the Far East. The final title, about the patriotic response in Australia and New Zealand, is clearly Ken G Hall’s 1928 addition.
