Apocalyptic films, where the Earth is facing pending destruction, have entertained people sitting in the comforts of neighborhood movie theaters for generations. The long history of such motion pictures aims to scare viewers with the possibilities of massive deaths and environmental annihilation caused by either internal or external forces. Most of the films in this genre kick off with introductions of its characters, where normal everyday life is examined. Then an impending catalyst is revealed, guaranteeing that life on earth as we know it will be changed forever.
The first film produced in cinema showing such dislocation is Denmark's April 1916 "The End of the World." August Blom, who was a main force for the Danes' "Golden Age of Silent Movies" from 1910 to 1916, directed this pioneering drama. The impending doom illustrated here is a comet hurtling from outer space towards our planet. The film hit a reflective spot for those who had witnessed Halley's Comet six years earlier and had been stirred up by some in the media of the possibility it would hit the earth. Blom shows the effects of a civilization anticipating a comet descending on our planet: the stock market crashes, a revolution of workers taking up arms to usurp the industiral hierarchy, and individuals selfishly stepping over others in the attempts to preserve their lives.
As seen in "The End of the World," as the comet comes crashing down, mass destruction awaits: burning cities, rising oceans and the release of poisonous gasses into the atmosphere. The film was produced during the middle of War World One. Although Denmark was a neutral country during the war, its economy was still affected by the nearby warring nations and its citizens witnessed the terrible destruction next door in Belgium and in France. In a way, "The End of the World" can be seen as analogous to the war and to all its fury unleashed.
Blom, director to such classics as 1910's "The White Slave Trade" and 1913's "Atlantis," was wrapping up his career in films. His departure coincided with the diminishing output of Danish and European films on the whole. WW1 greatly impacted the movie industry worldwide, with the exception of the United States. The continental disarrangement caused by the war proved to become the inflection point where America began to influence cinema as opposed to the other way around.
