Der magische Gürtel

Under the command of Captain Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, the German submarine U-35 was very successful in taking out enemy ships. A camera crew joined the submarine for its five-week tour of the Mediterranean in the spring of 1917, filming events as 10 ships were sunk. All the footage was shot on deck, as apparently the cameras weren't sufficiently light-sensitive to film inside the submarine itself. There is strong emphasis on the proper treatment of the crews from the defeated vessels, which were only sunk once the crews were safely in lifeboats. The film was approved by the German censor in August 1917 and subsequently screened in cinemas to wide acclaim. The English would later use it as an anti-German film. A tinted version that fell into British hands after the war formed the basis for the film's recent restoration. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)