Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The End of the World (1916)

This science fiction drama, directed by August Blom, stars Olaf Fønss and Carl Lauritzen, with Ebba Thomsen, Johanne Fritz-Petersen, Thorleif Lund, Alf Blütecher and Frederik Jacobsen.

This well could be the first film to utilize what is now an old science fiction trope: a comet has been discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. Civilization breaks down while scientists struggle to determine whether disaster can be averted or the inevitable must be accepted. The idea was soon reexpressed in Abel Gance’s science fiction misfire, The End of the World (1930), and repeated in a number of later films, including When Worlds Collide (1951), Deep Impact (1998), and Michael Bay’s idiotic Armageddon (1998).

Public belief or not in the coming doomsday, life goes on for our characters. Greed, suspicion, betrayal — all rear their ugly heads in the last days. Stock speculator and mine owner Frank Stoll (Fønss) prepares a safe place for himself and his wife (Thomsen) in his mine. Meanwhile, the rich idle away their remaining time, seemingly careless of the coming doom. With hopeless abandon, and with nothing else to lose, the working class decide to attack the rich for their lifelong, soulless avarice.

Will anyone we care about survive? Do we care about anyone? Will the human race be entirely wiped out? What about the cows? Tune in tomorrow night! Same bat time! Same bat channel!

— Carl Bennett

This PAL DVD edition has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print held by Det Danske Filminstitut. Dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes, blemishes and chipping, splices, and other print flaws are present. Picture greytones are balanced and image details are very-good.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on piano by Ronen Thalmay.

Supplemental material includes a full-length presentation of A Trip to Mars (1916).

This is our recommended home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 0 PAL DVD edition is available from DANISH FILM INSTITUTE through . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions or pirating television network recordings to produce their products. Be aware that purchasing pirated home video editions does not benefit the original edition producers nor the composers whose music is often pirated as well.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

Other SCIENCE FICTION and FANTASY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.