This little known movie is one of the best sci-fi movies made in the 1930's. Hans Albers is well cast as the lead. The female lead also is well chosen. Brigitte Helm (METROPOLIS), here in one of her last screen-roles, plays the femme fatale. The film tells the story of two scientist, who have discovered a way to make gold from lead. It"s achieved by using radioactivity. The experiment gets sabotaged by an unscrupulous tycoon, who likes to cash in on this discovery. One of the scientists (Friedrich Kayssler) dies when the lab explodes, the other one (Hans Albers), after recovering from his injuries, tries to find the saboteur. He very soon gets hired by the very person, and he pretends to play along with the tycoon's (Michael Bohnen) plans. The tycoon's daughter (Brigitte Helm) helps the hero, and of course, there will be a happy ending. The sets are breathtaking (for its time) and look very real- so real in fact, that during WWII the Americans confiscated a copy of this movie to find out how advanced the Germans use of radioactivity really was. For fans of this genre, this is a must.
7 Reviews
Good
zetes19 June 2016
Science fiction from the early Nazi era. Film production had been turned over to the Nazis in 1933 and all Jews and foreigners had been barred from the industry. There isn't much propaganda in this particular film, although the villain is a Brit. The British in general aren't depicted as terrible except for the villain. Hans Albers stars as a scientist who, along with his partner, has nearly perfected atomic alchemy, the ability to turn lead into gold. Their experiment goes suspiciously wrong, and Albers ends up barely alive. His partner isn't as lucky. After Albers recovers, a British billionaire (Michael Bohnen) offers him the opportunity to repeat the experiment in England, and Albers immediately suspects him of involvement in the original accident. In England, he meets and nearly falls in love with Bohnen's daughter (Metropolis' Brigitte Helm), which distracts him from his own German wife (Lien Deyers). This is more a slow burning drama than hard sci-fi, but there are big, electrical, Frankenstein-esque machines (Frankenstein having already been made, obviously). It's a decent film with a very good lead performance, some good cinematography and a good climax. Helm is probably the main point of interest for many, and it is nice to hear her speak. She's probably in it less than ten minutes, though.
German science fiction that has multiple themes
AlsExGal29 November 2019
Hans Albers stars as Werner Holk, an engineer who is working with Professor Achenbach (Friedrich Kabler) on a machine that will turn lead into gold. When an "accident" occurs that costs the Professor his life, Holk swears vengeance, and determines that the mastermind behind the sabotage was Scottish millionaire John Wills (Michael Bohnen), who has his own rival group working on the same machine. Wills actually hires Holk on to help make his machine a success, and while at first Holk is determined to destroy Wills' effort from within, when Holk meets Wills' daughter Florence (Brigitte Helm) he begins to second guess his mission. Also featuring Ernst Karchow, Lien Deyers, and Eberhard Leithoff.
This was one of UFA's biggest productions, and no expense was spared constructing the vast set containing the alchemical machine. Footage of the apparatus was later reused in The Magnetic Monster (1953). Despite the spectacle, this movie is at heart a drama about revenge, a rumination on science run amok, and a low-key if effective romance. Albers, an actor I was largely unfamiliar with, is very good. He was Germany's biggest star from 1930-1945, and is often referred to as "Germany's John Wayne". He wasn't a Nazi and never a sympathizer with their cause, but he was embraced by the regime, and when the war ended his career basically went with it, although he later had several smaller, character parts. Brigitte Helm, most famous for Metropolis, is also good as the rich man's daughter who has everything but love in her life.
This was one of UFA's biggest productions, and no expense was spared constructing the vast set containing the alchemical machine. Footage of the apparatus was later reused in The Magnetic Monster (1953). Despite the spectacle, this movie is at heart a drama about revenge, a rumination on science run amok, and a low-key if effective romance. Albers, an actor I was largely unfamiliar with, is very good. He was Germany's biggest star from 1930-1945, and is often referred to as "Germany's John Wayne". He wasn't a Nazi and never a sympathizer with their cause, but he was embraced by the regime, and when the war ended his career basically went with it, although he later had several smaller, character parts. Brigitte Helm, most famous for Metropolis, is also good as the rich man's daughter who has everything but love in her life.
Gold
CinemaSerf24 April 2024
Hans Albers is really quite good in this rarely seen sci-fi story. His character "Dr. Holk" has been working on the principle of using huge amounts of electrical current to effect some startling alchemy - and he thinks he can turn lead into gold! His efforts attract the attention of British millionaire "John Mills" (Michael Bohnen) who agrees to build a magnificent underwater generator - where, low and behold, his technique of generating 7½ millions volts and zapping the lead does exactly that! Now, this is where the plot loses it's way a little... "Mills" decides to make loads and loads of gold, concluding that it would solve world poverty (rather than just reduce the value of gold to that of, well, lead...) but "Holk" goes ahead with the plans to up-scale production, though it is evident he has a plan of his own. Most English speakers will be used to folks with foreign characters speaking our tongue with an accent to indicate their origins; it is interesting here to see both "Mills" and his daughter - who has taken a bit of a shine to our scientist - "Florence" (Brigitte Helm) speaking fluent German throughout - indeed Bohnen delivers an almost Nazi-esque speech towards the end. Speaking of the ending, it's tense and the "Metropolis" (1927) style machinery comes to life to great effect. The scale of the sets gives the science a certain degree of plausibility and coupled with a strong effort from Albers makes this must see film if you like this genre.
Good Sci Fi classic
cynthiahost30 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Once again Hans Alber portrays an engineer .But this time he works for Professor Auchenbach,portrayed by Friederick Kayssler.They are attempting to convert led into gold.But sabotage happens when their enemies spy Beck,played by Hansjoachim Buttner, To stick a bomb in the machine.He sneak out and it blows up killing the professor but Hans ,as Werner Holk,survives the and gets healed up.Two Henchmen show up from his enemy and offers work from their employers who does the same thing.He'll think it over.He realizes that this was the enemy so he going to go along with them to find the murderer out.This movie is just almost like Metropolis.The crooks under ground,located off shore in Scotland under water,looks very Science fiction.From the car that Hans rides in to enter the building from a tunnel,looks very futuristic.The machine that creates the gold looks almost exactly like the machine that was used in Dr x,1932.Lien Deyers plays Margit,Hans girl friend, that he leaves to found out who killed his employee.Michael Bohnen plays Wills,the one who murdered his employer to get the secret, Brigitte Helms,of Metrpolis Fame, plays Florence,his daughter.For the first time I heard her speak.She plays her character to be indifferent to her fathers.The scene where Hans ask her question about how he knows her.She tells him that she saw her father the first time in three month.She already told him ,her Popschy,that she was going to leave that day when Will begged her to stay and show Holk around.She later decides to stay cause she's falling in love to him.Ernest Karschow plays Willie Luders, who pretend also to be Charlie Jenkins.He ends up helping Holk.Well Holk ends up succeeding in making gold from lead.Which helps the greed of Wills.This creates an economical disaster all over the world.This movie has no Nazi propaganda in it.It seems to be anti authority.So Holks is about to fall in love with Florence when he discover that Will is just plain Gold lust.So he decides to send for Margit. Eventually he gets disgusted with Wills and tell the workers that he was the murderer.Everybody quits .Holks destroys the machine.Both he and Willi leave the through the tunnel.Will get killed.Holks goes back to his girl friend in Berlin. Hans includes his favorite hobby in front of the camera ,beer drinking.Rudolph Platt,German character actor stalwart,plays a reporter.3/30/12
Only partially convincing
Horst_In_Translation18 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Gold" is a German movie from 1934 and if you know a bit about our country's history, then you will know without a doubt that this was the second year of the Nazi reign here. But the propaganda ministry was not so refined yet in terms of what German films had to look like, so you can easily use this film as an example of a movie from Nazi Germany that does not try to push a certain ideology on people. The director is Karl Hartl and the writer is Rolf E. Vanloo and both have worked on a handful other known films from the 1920s and 1930s in Germany. But the star here is of course Hans Albers, who plays the big lead character, a scientist who is disappointed with evil forces killing his mentor after he apparently found a way to turn lead into gold. A tragic story really, but if you know a bit about that era in terms of filmmaking, you will also know that (in contrast to earlier German horror film) most film around that time managed to reach a happy end somehow and this one here is no exception. It is a sound film, a new technology that became a lot more frequent and Albers was one of the earliest German sound film stars. Brigitte Helm, one of Germany's biggest silent film stars, also appears in this 100-minute movie. All in all, there are some good moments here and Albers definitely shows why he is such a great star, but story-wise this was only enough for a 60-minute film max. There were many uninteresting scenes and the film dragged on several occasions. That's why I give it a thumbs down. Not recommended.
All that glitters is lead.
morrison-dylan-fan31 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Whilst having seen the image in photos, I found myself utterly enchanted by the vision of The Machine Man / Maria in Fritz Lang's landmark Metropolis (1927). Having that lingering feeling of wanting to hear the voice of Maria,I was thrilled when a fellow IMDber told me of another Sci-Fi title starring the actress (Brigitte Helm) this led to me melting down the gold for a viewing.
View on the film:
Charged up over a 14 month long production just as the Nazis were starting (but yet to have a full grip on)to get in control of the film industry, the screenplay by Rolf E. Vanloo returns to the workers of Metropolis (1927) to slyly layer underneath the Sci-Fi a deep cynicism over promises made by the newly powerful scientists that the wealth from the new invention will trickle down to the humble worker. Tapping into nuclear fears incredibly early, Vanloo drills into the Sci-Fi with dripping with sweat fear over the explosive radioactivity machine which turns lead into gold falling into the wrong hands. Shutting down those who try to destroy the machine, Vanloo ties the Sci-Fi themes together with a jagged mystery Werner Holk peeling away the layers of deceit over the murder of inventor Prof. Achenbach.
Igniting the Sci-Fi atmosphere, director Karl Hartl takes great delight in displaying the powers of the machine with eye-catching overlapping special effects heating the impression of lead being turned into gold, all done with a lazor Hartl cuts across the screen to the sound of beeps and pops from the rumbling machine. Splashing the risk the machine posses with newspaper clippings and hectic crowds on the streets, Hartl has Holk's search for revenge over Achenbach be lit in shimmering close-ups capturing Holk's attempt to gain the trust of suspects. Returning to Sci-Fi,Brigitte Helm gives a very good, calculating performance as Florence Wills,whose doubts over how her dad got the device are gradually raised by Helm. Running on revenge for his friend, Hans Albers gives a terrific turn as Holk,thanks to Albers using Holk's calm, measured manner as to keep his true intentions out of sight. Burning up the screen with his cackling,Michael Bohnen gives a dastardly slippery performance as John Wills, who tries to get rid of all his problems with gold.
View on the film:
Charged up over a 14 month long production just as the Nazis were starting (but yet to have a full grip on)to get in control of the film industry, the screenplay by Rolf E. Vanloo returns to the workers of Metropolis (1927) to slyly layer underneath the Sci-Fi a deep cynicism over promises made by the newly powerful scientists that the wealth from the new invention will trickle down to the humble worker. Tapping into nuclear fears incredibly early, Vanloo drills into the Sci-Fi with dripping with sweat fear over the explosive radioactivity machine which turns lead into gold falling into the wrong hands. Shutting down those who try to destroy the machine, Vanloo ties the Sci-Fi themes together with a jagged mystery Werner Holk peeling away the layers of deceit over the murder of inventor Prof. Achenbach.
Igniting the Sci-Fi atmosphere, director Karl Hartl takes great delight in displaying the powers of the machine with eye-catching overlapping special effects heating the impression of lead being turned into gold, all done with a lazor Hartl cuts across the screen to the sound of beeps and pops from the rumbling machine. Splashing the risk the machine posses with newspaper clippings and hectic crowds on the streets, Hartl has Holk's search for revenge over Achenbach be lit in shimmering close-ups capturing Holk's attempt to gain the trust of suspects. Returning to Sci-Fi,Brigitte Helm gives a very good, calculating performance as Florence Wills,whose doubts over how her dad got the device are gradually raised by Helm. Running on revenge for his friend, Hans Albers gives a terrific turn as Holk,thanks to Albers using Holk's calm, measured manner as to keep his true intentions out of sight. Burning up the screen with his cackling,Michael Bohnen gives a dastardly slippery performance as John Wills, who tries to get rid of all his problems with gold.
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