Het wrak in de Noordzee

Summary

Fisherman’s drama by actor-director Theo Frenkel.

Het wrak in de Noordzee (The North Sea Wreck) was the first film made by director Theo Frenkel's own company Amsterdam Film Cie. Before Frenkel returned to the Netherlands in 1914, he had worked in France for Pathé Frères, in Great Britain for the producers Hepworth and Urban, and in the German capital for the film pioneer Oskar Messter and Eiko-Film. Back in the Netherlands, he made the film Fatum for the Rembrandt Film Co. Run by cinema operator and director Johan Gildemeijer; after this he established his own film company. The North Sea Wreck is a fisherman’s a drama about the romance between the daughter of a Scheveningen captain and a young fisherman. Their love is threatened when another fisherman sinks the boat of his rival, and blackmails the girl’s father to give away her hand in marriage. Eventually the missing fisherman pops up again, and marries his beloved. His criminal rival is punished.

Today, Het wrak in de Noordzee is considered one of the masterpieces of the silent-film period. Theo Frenkel, who had also made a name for himself as an actor, and was a descendent of the famous Bouwmeester theatre family, knew very well how to portray the story, and the emotions. The level of his camerawork and mise-en-scène attested to his considerable international experience.