After the revelation that Georg has seduced her, Maria is driven away by her father. Georg, fearing the wrath of Maria's father, has swiftly abandoned the girl and left for the mining town of Sankt Anton, where he expects to hide easily amongst the large population of colliers. Maria must care for herself, and ends up in Sankt Anton, where she attempts to rebuild her life. There, she gets to know Thomas, and soon the young people are engaged. When Georg and Maria meet again, drama ensues. The film originally ran 97 minutes.
Cinematography
Stunning mine sequences — shadows, machinery, impending doom.
Direction
Grune's staging of the titular explosion still shocks.
Director
Karl Grune
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Originally 97 minutes; only 72 survive. The missing reels likely contained crucial emotional transitions, leaving modern audiences to fill gaps with imagination.
Grune made this between his famous 'The Street' (1923) and fleeing Nazi Germany — 'Explosion' captures Weimar anxieties about working-class violence and sexual hypocrisy.
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