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Hitler's Olympia - The Nazi Olympics 1936
 
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Hitler's Olympia - The Nazi Olympics 1936
VHS ~ Leni Riefenstahl
4.5 out of 5 stars  (2 customer reviews)

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2 used & new available from £28.65

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Product details
  • Directors: Leni Riefenstahl
  • Format: Box set, Black & White, PAL
  • Classification: Exempt
  • Studio: Dd Home Entertainment
  • VHS Release Date: 2 Sep 1996
  • Run Time: 204 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  (2 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004CSWN
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,759 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
There is no other filmmaker remotely like Leni Riefenstahl, which is probably a good thing. The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, as shown in Hitler's Olympia, was the prodigiously gifted Riefenstahl's next challenge following her stunning and terrifying documentary of the 1934 Nuremberg rally, Triumph of the Will. Riefenstahl undertook the task with technical innovations and an unfailing aesthetic eye. The games are of historical interest; Berlin was where the black American runner Jesse Owens dominated his sport, much to Hitler's chagrin. But Riefenstahl's long film (it's often shown in two parts) is more than just a document. Olympia is also a delirious paean to movement, competition, and the human body. The diving competition becomes less a battle for medals and more a dreamlike series of shapes in mesmerising motion.

While Olympia has often been described as Riefenstahl's hymn to beauty, it is also her hymn to the possibilities of cinema, of the sheer magic of camera angles, rhythm and light. After two years of exhausting editing, the film premiered on April 20, 1938--Hitler's birthday. If only Riefenstahl had turned her back on her Führer, she might be remembered as one of the mightiest directors in film history, instead of the most notorious. As it is, Pauline Kael once described Riefenstahl's Triumph and Olympia as "the two greatest films ever directed by a woman". --Robert Horton

Synopsis
In 1935 Leni Riefenstahl, Germany's leading film director, was commissioned to make a permanent record of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Hitler decided this was an opportunity to display Nazi pageantry to the world.
The result is one of the most powerful documentary films of all time.

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star: 50%  (1)
4 star: 50%  (1)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Historical Genius, 18 May 2003
By A Customer
This film is a masterpiece, purely for it's outstanding historical value. Leading historical figures, such as Hitler and Goebbels are shown, Riefenstahl catching glimpses of them, off-guard,fascinated and excited by the games. Anyone with an interest in history should see this film, it provides a glimpse into history untouched and unhampered by political adgenda.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unnecessary sensationalized title, 2 May 2005
By B. Chandler "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This repackaging of Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia is trying to cash in on the Hitler mystique; it is not necessary as this film stands on its own as an artistic endeavor.

Hopefully this version was also digitally remastered under the supervision of Leni Riefenstahl as a few other versions have. It does not say so.

1936 Olympics brought to life and made immortal. Leni uses every trick in the book and then invents a few to get just the right angle and lighting for each shot and then integrates them into a whole that make you feel that you are there.

The film opens up with a film tribute to the history of Greece and the games. We get to see the names of the nations at the time that the torch passes through as it reached Berlin. A much more realistic torch than today's is ran into the stadium with a few pauses to let everyone see just before the final dash to the to Olympic torch at the stadium. It would be great to recapture this in the present day. Some of the tribute leads me to believe that our athletes are overly clothed for the sports.

It may be unique reasons that brought you to this point such as Leni or photography, or interest in history, or, or, or. But once the action starts you feel that you are there and get lost in the "who will win what and how." Even being aware of the outcome does not prepare you to "not bite your nails" as you watch each athlete barley besting the next until it is over too soon. I noticed that instead of placing medals over the winners, they used laurel wreaths.

Any way you cut it, this movie is worth watching.