Deluge

Deluge (1933)

CONTINENTS WERE SWEPT AWAY... AND WITH THEIR LAWS AND MORALS!

A massive earthquake strikes the United States, which destroys the West Coast and unleashes a massive flood that threatens to destroy the East Coast as well.

Date of release
1933-08-17
TMDB
6.0 / 10 (22)
Runtime
1h 10m
Genres
Science Fiction, Drama
Director
Felix E. Feist

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Deluge
  • Filmed in: Los Angeles

Deluge is a 1933 American post-apocalyptic disaster film, directed by Felix E. Feist, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.

Production notes

The film opens with a quote from the Bible's Book of Genesis, Chapter 9, verse 11: "And I shall establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."

S. Fowler Wright, the author of the 1928 novel upon which the film was based, began pitching a script based on the book to studios in 1933. In May, he accepted an offer from Worldwide Studios for $5,000 for the options. Wright's script for a film version was not used. The independent, Admiral/K.B.S. Productions, produced the film with a budget of $171,000, equivalent to approximately 3.51 million in 2020.

While Deluge was the first film to visualize the total destruction of New York City, it was filmed entirely in Los Angeles. Many films have since continued to use New York as the center for their apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic storylines. A scene in Deluge that features a tidal wave that leaves New York submerged in water with nearly all inhabitants drowned later was recreated in the 2004 disaster film The Day After Tomorrow.

The special effects were done by Ned Mann, Russell E. Lawson, and Billy Williams. Mann later worked on the H. G. Wells-scripted film Things to Come (1936).

Part of the stock footage of ships and planes returning to port under severe storm warnings includes actual footage of the large United States Navy rigid airship USS Macon (ZRS-5), which later was lost at sea in 1935.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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