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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Leni Riefenstahl is dead
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-09-2003 02:27 PM
It was widely alleged that Hitler did have an interest. My memory of the details is quite vague (this was in a paper in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television I read many years ago as a student), but when R visited Hollywood in 1938 in an attempt to secure a US release for her Berlin Olympics film, one of the film industry trade unions (with strong Jewish links) published and circulated a leaflet headlined 'Is this woman Hitler's girlfriend?'. The rationale was that Hitler had promoted R over the head of Goebbels, who disliked non-fiction/documentary in preference for more subtle propaganda messages embedded in feature films, and that Hitler was not in the business of promoting relatively unknown film directors without some more significant motive.
Incidentally, when R visited the US (at the invitation of Avery Brundage of International Olympic Committee fame, who had strong Nazi sympathies), she was totally boycotted by all the major film industry executives but one... Walt Disney, whose anti-Semitic tendencies chimed with Hitler's entirely.
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Christian Appelt
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 505
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: Dec 2001
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posted 09-09-2003 06:06 PM
She's dead, and that's all to it.
It's a funny coincidence, but I just finished reading the autobiography of writer/director Curt Siodmak (THE WOLF MAN, DONOVAN'S BRAIN), and if you like sharp and witty books, read this one. Siodmak tells all there is to say about how creative people were driven out of Germany after 1933, and he mentions how many second-rate actors, writers and directors were glad about that exodus - now it was their turn.
To me, Riefenstahl's films are as lifeless and boring as some of early Russian montage experiments. She never had anything to say, it's all surface and nothing below. Besides, she employed some of the the best German cameramen to get fascinating images and never gave them proper credit. What she knew, she learned from the director Arnold Fanck, and that she was a decent editor is nothing special in the history of cinema.
While hundreds of talented women all over the world edited fine films that live on, Ms. Riefenstahl used her talent to glorify Hitler. Since that time, she had been lying about almost anything she did. This has come to an end now. Anybody who claims that Riefenstahl's work of art has to be judged seperately from her political position overlooks the fact that ART always carries some kind of idea, emotion or vision. Riefenstahl's vision of "abstract beauty" has always been D.O.A. - now she is dead, and that is all to it.
P.S. This is the Siodmak book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810838702/qid=1063148985/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/002-5308749-7524865?v=glance&s=books
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 09-09-2003 06:22 PM
I have very mixed feelings about this; she was a remarkable woman, still at work untill recent times, taking up diving at an age when most of us are retired, if not dead.
She made few films, and we can only speculate as to how her work may have developed if events in 1930s European history had turned out differently. However, I never felt able to accept her claim that she was simply documenting contemporary events.
What history may never forgive her for is not making films for the Nazis in their early days, but rufusing, many years later, to discuss this period in her life, or to express any regret for it.
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Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted 09-10-2003 10:13 AM
The New York Times obituary gives a much fuller account of her life, including her careers as a dancer in the style if Isadora Duncan, popular movie star in German mountain films, becoming director of such genre films, director of large scale propaganda and documentary films, still photographer of ethnographic themes with considerable travel in Africa, underwater photographer, writer of her autobiography and photographic books, etc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/obituaries/10RIEF.html
I found her autobiography most interesting, including her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated industry and male-chauvenist Nazi political system, apealing to Hitler to over-rule Goebles' attempts to restrain her actions and to limit her career. Her ability to organize as many as 36 and 52 camera crews to cover the 1936 Olympics and the staged Nazi propaganda films employing thousands of troops, in an era when few women anywhere in the world were permitted to direct, as well as her skill in editing in the Eisenstein manner, must attest to some character strengths.
She turned Nazi racial theories upside down by making photographic safaries to Africa and glorifying tribes in still and motion pictures, tribes whose cultures were even then almost extinct. This after some twenty years of near isolation from the world after being investigated and condemned for her role
as propagandist for Hitler.
She lived to be 101 years old, despite nearly dying in a plane crash. At the age of 71, she claimed to be 20 years younger, in order to qualify for a diver's license. And she was
active in writing, photographing and publishing almost to her final days.
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Gerard S. Cohen
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 975
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted 09-10-2003 04:07 PM
For the record, here's a list of Leni Riefenstahl's films and sources of information about her life and works, as found on the IMDb website:
(1950s) (1930s) (1920s)
Tiefland (1954) .... Martha, eine spanische Betteltänzerin
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
S.O.S. Eisberg (1933) .... Ellen Lawrence
... aka S.O.S. Iceberg (1933) (USA)
Blaue Licht, Das (1932) .... Junta
... aka Blue Light, The (1934) (USA)
Weiße Rausch - Neue Wunder des Schneeschuhs, Der (1931) .... Leni
... aka Ski Chase (1938) (USA)
... aka White Flame, The (1931)
... aka White Intoxication, The (1938) (USA: literal English title)
Stürme über dem Mont Blanc (1930) .... Hella Armstrong
... aka Avalanche (1932) (USA)
... aka Storm Over Mont Blanc (1930)
Weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü, Die (1929) .... Maria Maioni
... aka White Hell of Pitz Palu (1930) (USA)
... aka White Hell of Pitz Palu, The (1929) (UK: literal English title)
Schicksal derer von Habsburg, Das (1928) .... Maria Vetsera
Große Sprung, Der (1927) .... Gita
... aka Big Jump, The (1927) (UK: literal English title)
Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit (1926)
... aka Ways to Strength and Beauty (1926) (International: English title)
Heilige Berg, Der (1926) .... Diotima
... aka Holy Mountain, The (1926)
... aka Sacred Mountain, The (1926)
Tragödie im Hause Habsburg (1924)
... aka Drama von Mayerling, Das (1924)
... aka Tragedy in the House of Hapsburg (1924)
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Filmography as: Director,
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Director - filmography
(2000s) (1950s) (1930s)
Impressionen unter Wasser (2002)
... aka Underwater Impressions (2002) (International: English title)
Tiefland (1954)
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938)
... aka Olympia 1. Teil - Götter des Stadions (1938)
... aka Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games Berlin 1936 (1938) (UK)
... aka Olympiad, The (1940) (USA)
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938)
... aka Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games, Part II (1938) (UK)
Tag der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht (1935)
... aka Day of Freedom (1935) (USA: video box title)
... aka Nürnberg 1935 (1935) (Germany: subtitle)
Triumph des Willens (1934)
... aka Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934, Das (1934) (Germany: subtitle)
... aka Triumph of the Will (1934) (USA)
Sieg des Glaubens, Der (1933)
... aka Victory of the Faith (1933) (International: English title)
Blaue Licht, Das (1932)
... aka Blue Light, The (1934) (USA)
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Filmography as: Editor, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor - filmography
(2000s) (1950s) (1930s)
Impressionen unter Wasser (2002)
... aka Underwater Impressions (2002) (International: English title)
Tiefland (1954)
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938)
... aka Olympia 1. Teil - Götter des Stadions (1938)
... aka Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games Berlin 1936 (1938) (UK)
... aka Olympiad, The (1940) (USA)
Tag der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht (1935)
... aka Day of Freedom (1935) (USA: video box title)
... aka Nürnberg 1935 (1935) (Germany: subtitle)
Triumph des Willens (1934) (uncredited)
... aka Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934, Das (1934) (Germany: subtitle)
... aka Triumph of the Will (1934) (USA)
Blaue Licht, Das (1932)
... aka Blue Light, The (1934) (USA)
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Filmography as: Producer, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Producer - filmography
(1950s) (1930s)
Tiefland (1954) (producer)
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938) (producer)
... aka Olympia 1. Teil - Götter des Stadions (1938)
... aka Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games Berlin 1936 (1938) (UK)
... aka Olympiad, The (1940) (USA)
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938) (producer)
... aka Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games, Part II (1938) (UK)
Tag der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht (1935) (producer)
... aka Day of Freedom (1935) (USA: video box title)
... aka Nürnberg 1935 (1935) (Germany: subtitle)
Triumph des Willens (1934) (producer)
... aka Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934, Das (1934) (Germany: subtitle)
... aka Triumph of the Will (1934) (USA)
Blaue Licht, Das (1932) (producer)
... aka Blue Light, The (1934) (USA)
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Filmography as: Writer, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writer - filmography
(1950s) (1930s)
Tiefland (1954)
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938)
... aka Olympia 1. Teil - Götter des Stadions (1938)
... aka Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games Berlin 1936 (1938) (UK)
... aka Olympiad, The (1940) (USA)
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938)
... aka Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games, Part II (1938) (UK)
Triumph des Willens (1934)
... aka Dokument vom Reichsparteitag 1934, Das (1934) (Germany: subtitle)
... aka Triumph of the Will (1934) (USA)
Blaue Licht, Das (1932) (story)
... aka Blue Light, The (1934) (USA)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Cinematographer,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cinematographer - filmography
(2000s) (1950s)
Impressionen unter Wasser (2002)
... aka Underwater Impressions (2002) (International: English title)
Tiefland (1954) (director of photography)
... aka Lowlands (1954) (USA)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filmography as: Miscellaneous Crew,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Crew - filmography
Last Days, The (1998) (archive source)
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Filmography as: Herself
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Herself - filmography
(2000s) (1990s) (1970s) (1930s)
Impressionen unter Wasser (2002) (uncredited)
... aka Underwater Impressions (2002) (International: English title)
Hitler war ihr Schicksal - Leni Riefenstahl (2002) (TV) .... Herself
Ich wollte nie so alt werden - Eine persönliche Begegnung mit Leni Riefenstahl (2002) (TV) .... Herself
... aka Ich wollte nie so alt werden (2002) (TV) (Germany: short title)
Sandra Maischberger trifft Leni Riefenstahl (2002) (TV) .... Herself
... aka Maßlosigkeit, die in mir ist, Die (2002) (TV) (Germany)
Vom Hirschkäfer zum Hakenkreuz (2002)
... aka From Stag Beetle to Swastika (2002) (Europe: English title)
"Hitlers Frauen" (2001) (mini) TV Series .... Herself
... aka "Hitler's Women" (2001) (mini) (Australia)
Kino kolossal - Herkules, Maciste & Co (2000) (TV) (archive footage) .... Herself
Leni Riefenstahl im Sudan (2000) .... Herself
Nacht der Regisseure, Die (1995) (uncredited) .... Herself
... aka Night of the Filmmakers, The (1995)
Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl, Die (1993) .... Herself
... aka Power of the Image: Leni Riefenstahl, The (1993)
... aka Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, The (1993)
Jeux de la XXIème olympiade (1977) .... Herself (spectator)
... aka Games of the XXI Olympiad (1977) (Canada: English title)
... aka Games of the XXI Olympiad Montreal 1976 (1977) (USA)
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938) (uncredited) .... Nude dancer (prologue)
... aka Olympia 1. Teil - Götter des Stadions (1938)
... aka Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
... aka Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games Berlin 1936 (1938) (UK)
... aka Olympiad, The (1940) (USA)
[ 09-10-2003, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Gerard S. Cohen ]
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