End of the World (1931) Review: A Messy, Loud, and Weirdly Great Disaster

If you have about an hour and a half and you want to see what a 1930s panic looks like, End of the World is worth a look. It is definitely for people who like history or weird sci-fi that feels more like a stage play than a movie. If you need fast action or clean editing, you are going to hate this one.

It is a bit of a mess, honestly. Abel Gance directed it and also stars as the main scientist, Jean Novalic, which tells you everything you need to know about the ego involved here. He plays the character like a saint who is constantly suffering for the truth.

The story kicks off with Jean figuring out a comet is coming to smash into Earth. Instead of everyone getting together to fix it, the news just makes everyone go crazy. The government gets mad at him for telling the truth and calls it treason.

There is this one scene in a stock exchange that feels like it lasts for ten years. Men in suits are just screaming and throwing paper everywhere. It is so loud for a movie this old.

The sound design is actually one of the coolest parts, even if it's scratchy. You can hear these bells ringing and wind howling that actually makes you feel a little bit of that dread. It isn't smooth like The Mighty, but it has a raw energy that caught me off guard.

I noticed one guy in the background of a crowd scene who was clearly just waiting for his cue. He’s standing there looking at his shoes while everyone else is screaming about the apocalypse. It’s those little things that make these old films feel real.

Jean Novalic has this hair that seems to get more unhinged as the movie goes on. By the end, he looks like he hasn't slept since the silent era. He gives these long speeches that feel like they belong in a church rather than a lab.

The movie really struggles with its own pace. One minute it is a political thriller, and the next it is a weird religious epic with people dancing in the streets because they think they are going to die. It is very disjointed.

Actually, the dancing scenes are pretty wild. People are just partying in the face of total destruction. It reminded me a bit of the intensity you see in Mother, though that movie is way more focused than this one.

I liked the shots of the observatory. The big telescopes look like giant steampunk cannons. There is a real sense of scale there that most movies from 1931 couldn't manage.

The comet itself is... well, it's a glowing ball. It doesn't look like much by today's standards. But the way the characters look at it with pure terror makes it work. Fear does a lot of the heavy lifting for the special effects.

There is a subplot about a rich guy trying to buy up everything even though the world is ending. It felt a bit on the nose. Some things never change in movies, I guess.

It’s not exactly a fun watch, but it is a fascinating one. You can see Gance trying to do things with sound that nobody else was doing yet. He fails a lot, but the effort is visible.

One reaction shot of a woman looking at the sky lingers for way too long. It starts out being emotional and then just becomes awkward. I found myself checking how much time was left on the seeker bar during that part.

If you’ve seen Thunder Mountain, you know how these older films sometimes lean too hard into the drama. This is ten times more dramatic than that. Everyone is always at a level eleven.

Random notes from my notebook:

• The mustache on the government official is impressively sharp.
• Why are they still using so much paper in the future? Oh wait, it's 1931.
• The organ music is way too loud in the mix.
• I think I saw a tripod leg in the corner of one shot.
• The ending is very abrupt. Like, the movie just gives up.

Is it a masterpiece? No. It’s too clunky for that. But it’s got a personality that you don't see in modern disaster flicks. It’s weird and personal and very, very loud.

You can tell Gance really believed in what he was making. Even when it’s boring, it’s sincerely boring. I’d take this over a polished, empty blockbuster any day.

If you're looking for something light like Little Miss Optimist, stay far away from this. This is about as heavy as it gets for the early thirties. It’s a movie that wants to scream at you about the end of everything.

I'm still thinking about that stock market scene. The way the camera moves through the crowd is actually pretty ahead of its time. It feels claustrophobic in a way that works.

Final thought: watch it for the vibes, not the logic. The logic is mostly gone by the second act. But the vibes? The vibes are apocalyptic.