1932 - THE BLUE LIGHT, Riefenstahl's story of romantic fatalism is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.

None of the stills on this post will do justice to The Blue Light one of the most beautiful black and white films I have seen.  The director/star Leni Riefenstahl had at her disposal some of the top German technicians working in their film business at that time.  This group managed to find a way to film subtle shades of gray throughout the film to achieve incredibly beautiful visual effects 

The Blue Light is a very simple story about a mountain girl who has discovered the secret of a mysterious source of glowing light from a mountain near her home.  The villagers in the small town beneath the mountain have already lost 4 men who have attempted to follow her to discover her secret.  They also believe she is a witch who has entranced these men to their death.  Admittedly the story is a little thin, but it does allow the filmmakers to stage some incredible mountain climbing scenes.

In this film, Riefenstahl is very carefully photographed to make her seem almost a creature from another dimension.  I suppose you could label this film a uber fascist fairy tale, with this emphasis on this pure untouched creature interacting with her rugged environment, that theme is strongly interwoven into the narrative.

Leni Riefenstahl will always be a controversial filmmaker.  Her association with Hitler and the Nazi party followed her to her death.  Her degree of involvement with the Nazi's has been subject to a lot of speculation, but if her naivety about the Nazis was as real as she claims, her association with them probably still made her a dangerous person since she helped to propagate their Aryan fantasy.  She always acted the role of the misunderstood artist her entire life.

The film has a strong Teutonic theme running throughout it.   It's possible Riefenstahl was attempting to create a myth much like Fritz Lang's Die Nibelung Saga.  Leni Riefenstahl always thought epic when she filmed, look at Olympia.

86 minutes.

Still an impressive film, one of the most beautiful I have seen.  The Blue Light shows how very talented filmmakers working with 1930's equipment and filming in black and white, can equal or even surpass a lot of films shot in color and widescreen.

1938 - OLYMPIA, Leni Riefenstahl's film on the 1936 Olympic games

The Nazi's favorite filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl created this documentary from her photographed record of the 1936 Olympic games.  Olympia is considered a classic in the documentary film form, and although a very long film it still has parts that hold up pretty well watching the film today.

Rifenstahl stuck hundred's of cameras everywhere to get some amazing shots of the athletes competing. She spent almost two years editing the miles of film footage she got back. The finished film was split into two parts.

The film is somewhat unnerving to watch with Hitler in the stadium and all the thousands of good little Germans "heiling" him with their creepy Nazi salutes.

Part One,  The Festival of Nations contains a brilliant prologue and opening to the Olympic games and consumes almost thirty minutes of running time.  The Festival of Nations primarily focuses on track and field competition and gets pretty tiresome.

Riefenstahl frequently photographs the athletes very closely and uses lots of slow motion tricks to keep it interesting but it's a pretty long slog for much of the film.  Towards the end of the film, Riefenstahl sharpens the focus of the film with a pole vaulting competition that goes into the night.  The Festival of Nations concludes with a marathon running race which is very well filmed.

Part 2:  The Festival of Beauty, is a little shorter than part one, and has more variety in the athletic events which makes it easier to watch.  The sailing sequences and most entertainingly, the horse competition events which are hilarious.  The horses frequently throw their riders and appear to have a lot more common sense about jumping dangerous parts of the Olympic track then the people riding them.  Olympia ends with the famous diving/flying sequence which is primarily achieved through editing.

In spite of the dated aspects and somewhat repetitious nature of some of the athletic events,  Olympia is still an impressive film.

126 minutes for The Festival of Nations.

100 minutes for The Festival of Beauty.