Happy Birthday, Leni Riefenstahl! Born today in 1902 as Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl, this German dancer, author, editor, photographer, screenwriter, producer, film director and Nazi sympathizer was also a talented swimmer and an artist.
She is best known for her documentary films of the 1930s, dramatizing the power and pageantry of the Nazi movement.
Riefenstahl also became interested in dancing during her childhood, taking lessons and performing across Europe.
Riefenstahl fell in love with the arts in her childhood, even though her father wanted her to follow him into the business world to secure the family fortune in heating and ventilation.
However, Riefenstahl's mother had faith in her daughter and believed that her future was in show business.
Riefenstahl had a younger brother named Heinz. Years later, he was killed at the age of thirty-nine on the Eastern Front in Nazi Germany's war against the Soviet Union.
Riefenstahl began to paint and write poetry at the age of four. She was also athletic, and at the age of twelve joined a gymnastics and swimming club.
Her mother was confident that her daughter would grow up to be successful in the field of art and therefore gave her full support, unlike Riefenstahl's father, who was not interested in his daughter's artistic inclinations.
Riefenstahl later attended dancing academies and became well known for her self-styled interpretive dancing skills.
She later travelled across Europe with Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer Max Reinhardt. This was in a show funded by Romanian-born German film producer Harry Sokal.
Riefenstahl often made almost seven hundred Reichmarks for each performance, and was so dedicated to dancing that she gave filmmaking no thought.
Unfortunately, she began to suffer a series of foot injuries that led to knee surgery of which threatened her dancing career.
It was while going to a doctor's appointment that she first saw a poster for the 1924 German silent black and white drama film 'Der Berg des Schicksals' ('The Mountain of Destiny').
After this, she became inspired to go into filmmaking, and began visiting the cinema to see films and also attended film shows.
Later, at a meeting arranged by her friend, she met German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre Arnold Fanck.
After Riefenstahl told him how much she admired his work, she also convinced him of her acting skill. She persuaded Fanck to feature her in one of his films. Afterwards, she made a series of films for him, where she learned from him acting and film editing techniques.
One of Fanck's films that brought Riefenstahl into the limelight was the 1929 German silent black and white drama/mountain film 'Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü' ('The White Hell of Piz Palü').
The film was co-directed by Austrian film director and screenwriter G. W. Pabst ('Pandora's Box'). From this, Riefenstahl's fame later spread to countries outside of Germany.
Three years later, Riefenstahl co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed her own work. This was the 1932 black-and-white German drama/mystery film 'Das Blaue Licht' ('The Blue Light').
It later won the Silver Medal at the 1st Venice International Film Festival in August ig that same year. However, was not universally well-received, for which Riefenstahl blamed the critics, many of whom were Jewish.
During this time, Riefenstahl heard Adolph Hitler speak at a rally and was mesmerized by his talent as a public speaker.
Describing the experience in her memoir, Riefenstahl wrote, "I had an almost apocalyptic vision that I was never able to forget.
It seemed as if the Earth's surface were spreading out in front of me, like a hemisphere that suddenly splits apart in the middle, spewing out an enormous jet of water, so powerful that it touched the sky and shook the earth."
The following year, Riefenstahl starred in American film director and writer Tay Garnett's ('The Postman Always Rings Twice')1933 American black and white drama/adventure film 'S.O.S. Iceberg'. This was Riefenstahl's only English language role in film.
According to herself, Riefenstahl received invitations to travel to Hollywood to create films, but she refused them in favor of remaining in Germany with a boyfriend.
The film later attracted the attention of Hitler, who was immediately captivated by her work. He believed that she epitomized the perfect German female. Hitler saw talent in Riefenstahl and arranged a meeting.
She was described as fitting in with Hitler’s ideal of Aryan womanhood, a feature he had noted when he saw her starring performance in 'The Blue Light'.
After meeting Hitler, Riefenstahl was offered the opportunity to direct the one-hour 1933 German black and white documentary propaganda film 'Der Sieg des Glaubens' ('The Victory of Faith'). This would be about the fifth Nuremberg Rally.
The opportunity that was offered was a huge surprise to Riefenstahl. Hitler had ordered Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry to give the film commission to Riefenstahl, but the Ministry had never informed her.
Riefenstahl agreed to direct the film, even though she was only given a few days before the rally to prepare. She and Hitler got on well, forming a friendly relationship.
The propaganda film was funded entirely by the NSDAP. The film was the first of the monster rallies, with a staggering five hundred thousand attendees.
Two years later, Riefenstahl edited (though uncredited), co-wrote, produced and directed the first film (and possibly) the best film of which she is best known. This was the 1935 German black and white documentary/war propaganda film 'Triumph des Willens' ('Triumph of the Will').
The music was composed by Richard Wagner and German composer Herbert Windt (who became one of the most significant film score composers of the Third Reich).
The film is a controversial masterwork as well as an artful work of propaganda, showcasing German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. It was attended by more than seven hundred thousand Nazi supporters.
Edited from over sixty hours' worth of raw footage shot over the course of the rally's four days, 'Triumph of the Will' is visually remarkable in the way it captures the event's enormous scale.
Riefenstahl even helped to stage the scenes, directing and rehearsing some of them at least fifty times.
Riefenstahl's portentous filming from low angles (to make the small-framed Hitler look imposing and majestic) is often copied and parodied.
Her techniques—such as moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long-focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography—have earned 'Triumph of the Will' recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history.
The film was popular in the Third Reich, and has continued to influence films, documentaries and commercials to this day.
In Germany, 'Triumph of the Will' is not censored but the courts commonly classify it as Nazi propaganda which requires an educational context to public screenings.
During this time, 'The Victory of Faith' was lost between 1934, when Hitler ordered all of the prints to be destroyed.
Frank Capra's seven documentary film series Why We Fight is said to have been directly inspired by 'Triumph of the Will'' and the United States' response to it.
Three years later, Riefenstahl edited, wrote, produced and directed the second and final film of which she is best known.
This was the 1938 German black and white documentary/sport propaganda films 'Olympia 1. Tell - Fest der Völker' ('Olympia Part 1: Festival of the Nations') and 'Olympia 2. Tell - Fest der Schönheit' ('Olympia Part 2: Festival of Beauty').
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form.
This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes.
'Olympia' was secretly funded by the Third Reich. Riefenstahl was one of the first filmmakers to use tracking shots in a documentary, placing a camera on rails to follow the athletes' movement.
It then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American track and field athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
The techniques employed are almost universally admired, but the film is controversial due to its political context.
Despite being restricted to six camera positions on the stadium field, Riefenstahl set up cameras in as many other places as she could, including in the grandstands.
She attached automatic cameras to balloons, including instructions to return the film to her, and she also placed automatic cameras in boats during practice runs. Amateur photography was used to supplement that of the professionals along the race courses.
Perhaps the greatest innovation seen in Olympia: Parts 1 and 2' was the use of an underwater camera.
The camera followed divers through the air and, as soon as they hit the water, German cinematographer Paul Holzki would dive down with them, all while changing focus and aperture.
The film is also noted for its slow-motion shots. She played with the idea of slow motion, underwater diving shots, extremely high and low shooting angles, panoramic aerial shots, and tracking system shots for allowing fast action.
Many of these shots were relatively unheard of at the time, but her use and augmentation of them had set a standard, and is the reason that they are still used to this day.
'Olympia: Parts 1 and 2' premiered for Hitler's forty-ninth birthday on April 20, 1938. Its international debut led Riefenstahl to embark on an American publicity tour in an attempt to secure commercial release.
The film series were hugely successful films, of which has since been widely noted for its technical and aesthetic achievements.
Both films have a combined runtime of two hundred and twenty-six minutes, with the score co-composed by German composer Herman Windt.
The techniques employed therein are almost universally admired. However, the film is controversial due to its political context.
Nevertheless, Olympia: Parts 1 and 2 appear on many lists of the greatest films of all time, including Time magazine's "All-Time 100 Movies.
Prior in February 1937, Riefenstahl enthusiastically told a reporter for the Detroit News, "To me, Hitler is the greatest man who ever lived. He truly is without fault, so simple and at the same time possessed of masculine strength."
In the post-war years, Riefenstahl was subject of four denazification proceedings, which finally declared her a Nazi sympathizer.
However, she was never prosecuted. She was never an official member of the Nazi party but was always seen in association with the propaganda films she made during the Nazi period.
In interviews for the three-hour 1993 German war/historical documentary film 'The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl', she adamantly denied any deliberate attempt to create Nazi propaganda.
She said that she was disgusted that 'Triumph of the Will' was used in such a way.
One decade later, Riefenstahl passed in her sleep at her home from cancer in Pocking, Bavaria, Germany. She was 101.
English author, WWII historian and Holocaust denier David Irving thinks 'The Victory of Faith' is a better film than 'Triumph of the Will'. He writes:
"Victory of Faith provides a revealing look at the Nazi movement in the first years of its triumphs.
The National Socialist movement still bears the marks of its street-fighter origins; its rituals are often raw, lacking the orchestrated precision and theatrical grandeur we associate with later Nazi stagecraft.
'Victory of Faith' fills a gap in our understanding of the Third Reich, where Hitler and his Party are at a pivotal stage in its early development."
After Riefenstahl's death, there was a varied response in the obituary pages of leading publications, although most recognized her technical breakthroughs in filmmaking.
Riefenstahl had been active from 1925–2002.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYgMe29I9lY
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