Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

[Übermensch]

I've found this German edition which was mentioned by HerrSchreck before and Tommaso told us the following:

They just changed the cover design for the arte/Kinowelt and box-setted it, but it's still the same dvd. Not the greatest highpoint in film restoration or dvd transferring, but more than acceptable, and judging from the caps above, certainly miles ahead of the Pathfinder. The problem with all "Olympia" dvds is that they invariably feature the re-cut version Leni made in the 60s in order to make it possible to show the film again in Germany. Thus, the Olympic Oath which these sportsmen did greeting Hitler and some other scenes showing the Nazi flag are cut. Apparently the Pathfinder doesn't restore these either.

Combined with the opinions from the Amazon, it seems that the above edition is now the best in terms of the quality of restoration and transferring. But my concern is exactly what Tommaso said. Was this German edition transferred from the original German version of the film screened in 1938?

The edition contains 3 discs, the first one is part 1 of the film Fest der Völker, second is part 2 Fest der Schönheit and the last is a documentary film about Riefenstahl Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl (English: The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl) made by Ray Müller. The total running time is claimed to be 400 minutes. I checked Wikipedia. The original version of Olympia should be 226 minutes long and the documentary is 188 minutes. Total is 414 and much longer than 400. So, I suspect that this German edition is another denazified version of the film.

Does anyone actually own this edition? Please tell us more information about it. Thanks.

[Tommaso]

I have the German discs, and yes, it's the 'de-nazified' version, though the cuts at least were made by Riefenstahl herself.

[HarryLong]

Yes, it's so much better if you rewrite your own history...
Seriously, I understand why Germany would not want the original version because of the laws agains showing the swastika, etc., but OLYMPIA was made - at least in part - as propaganda and that is lost in an edited version. One is reminded of the saying about thos ewho forget history...

[Feego]

Is the old 2-cassette, Home Vision VHS edition uncut, or does it also contain the edited version?

[Übermensch]

Then how can we see the original version nowadays? Or at least how can we see the materials which were edited out?

[Tommaso]

Not at all, unless you have access to an original 1938 print, to Riefenstahl's private archive or very good contacts to a film archive which has the original version.

[Peacock]

It was several years ago, but the (very scratchy) print I saw in Scotland, I'm pretty sure was missing any Nazi flags etc, it was also the english-language version - I wonder if the cut footage is the same in the English as well as the German version?

[billy98]

When Riefenstahl turned 100 there was a film retrospective at the Chauvel Cinema (arthouse cinema) here in Sydney, and they screened the uncensored version of OLYMPIA from the Australian National Library. Although I do not know where this original print came from, I suspect that it was seized as enemy property from the then German Embassy in Canberra in 1939 after war was declared.

There was the swearing-in ceremony, there were flapping swastika flags snapping in the breeze spaced around the top of the stadium, and the one scene I recall most surprisingly was that in the famous torch relay sequence which begins in Greece and then crosses Europe, city by city, after Prague and Vienna the next city is Berlin, but as the camera swoops through the atmosphere, Hitler's face appears double-exposed in the clouds, and his face evaporates as the clouds clear and the camera descends towards earth and the looming Olympic stadium. A very striking montage.

[videozor]

I have the German discs, and yes, it's the 'de-nazified' version, though the cuts at least were made by Riefenstahl herself.

Was trying to find more information about this 3-disk edition for a while. If this is the one you have, Tommaso, is it English-friendly? Thanks!

[Tommaso]

I only have the two original "Olympia" discs (the 3-disc version is just a re-packaging), and no: they are not English friendly. However, the film certainly also works if you don't understand German; it's the sports and the images that count here, I'd say.

[HarryLong]

There was the swearing-in ceremony, there were flapping swastika flags snapping in the breeze spaced around the top of the stadium, and the one scene I recall most surprisingly was that in the famous torch relay sequence which begins in Greece and then crosses Europe, city by city, after Prague and Vienna the next city is Berlin, but as the camera swoops through the atmosphere, Hitler's face appears double-exposed in the clouds, and his face evaporates as the clouds clear and the camera descends towards earth and the looming Olympic stadium. A very striking montage.

Jeez. I realize now that every time I've seen this film, starting with a college screening back in 1970 or 71, it's been the truncated version.

[tojoed]

By the way, the UK release from Alba, that I mentioned earlier, has been put back...... to 2015(!) according to Amazon. You can even pre-order it if you're confident you'll still be alive.

[Übermensch]

Tommaso, in the thread "Essentials from Germany", you said:

Go for the new R1 edition, definitely! It contains a lot of footage (including the infamous Olympic oath) that Riefenstahl had to cut out in later years in Germany for political reasons. It also restores the running order of the original version. Apparently, this R1 edition will be a limited edition, so get it while you can. The film is a must see for anyone interested in film art and editing.

Is it true? Does it mean that the pathetic Pathfinder secured the original version and made it transferred?
I checked on Amazon which said, "This limited edition 2-disc set features the complete original version of OLYMPIA, presented for the first time on DVD." But the running time is only 204 minutes, way behind 226. And a few posts before you just told us we have no way to see the original version. I'm now bewildered. May I ask do you own the Pathfinder edition?

[Tommaso]

Sorry, I can't remember that post you quoted, but I'm pretty sure that the info I gave there came from an early discussion on the now defunct yahoo group on Riefenstahl, probably before the discs were even released. And I now know from later discussions there that that info is definitely wrong, at least as far as the idea of a really complete original edit is concerned. The Pathfinder (which I didn't buy after the reports about disastrous image quality and some more information trickling in at the yahoo group) might indeed have some scenes that are not in the current German dvd, with or without the oath, but it is not truly complete from all reports I heard. I had high hopes for this edition, as Pathfinder brought in a Belgian Riefenstahl expert whom I knew well from that yahoo group to do some liner notes or something (again, my memory lets me down), but it seems they tricked him into believing that this was really the full original version, too. Again, sorry if that early post of mine has caused confusion.

[Class316]

There was the swearing-in ceremony, there were flapping swastika flags snapping in the breeze spaced around the top of the stadium, and the one scene I recall most surprisingly was that in the famous torch relay sequence which begins in Greece and then crosses Europe, city by city, after Prague and Vienna the next city is Berlin, but as the camera swoops through the atmosphere, Hitler's face appears double-exposed in the clouds, and his face evaporates as the clouds clear and the camera descends towards earth and the looming Olympic stadium. A very striking montage.

THAT is the version we need on DVD, hands down. On another note, which version is the criterion LD?

[Class316]

Yet another release

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

I'm waiting for the version with the Lars von Trier commentary

[Peacock]

So are all these Nazi-produced films public domain? I thought Criterion said via email a few years ago that they had the rights to Olympia but didn't have any plans to release it at the time. So really they have the rights just as much as any other company does. I'm guessing we'll have a long time to wait then till a decent quality version of the english language cut emerges.

[manicsounds]

I don't think anyone is going to take a chance with something by "Lost Sock Productions Inc"

[Documaniaque]

Has anyone here ever tried to watch an original, uncensored version at the Bundesarchiv in Berlin? If you type "Olympia" into their search enginethey appear to possess a number of copies on film and video. Don't know if any are the original version, though...

[TMDaines]

Amazon updated their product information for the second edition of the BFI Film Classic book for Olympia recently:

Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is one of the most controversial films ever made. Capitalising on the success of Triumph of the Will (1935), her propaganda film for the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl secured Hitler's approval for her grandiose plans to film the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The result was a work as notorious for its politics as celebrated for its aesthetic power.

This revised edition includes new material on Riefenstahl's film-making career before Olympia and her close relationship with Hitler. Taylor Downing also discusses newly-available evidence on the background to the film's production that conclusively proves that the film was directly commissioned by Hitler and funded through Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda and not, as Riefenstahl later claimed, commissioned independently from the Nazi state by the Olympic authorities. In writing this edition, Taylor Downing has been given access to a magnificent new restoration of the original version of the film by the International Olympic Committee.

Are we finally going to see this film get the release that it should? If the IOC are involved I suspect that it could well end up censored though. I doubt they'd want Hitler showing up in something they're involved in.

[AfterTheRain]

This revised edition includes new material on Riefenstahl's film-making career before Olympia and her close relationship with Hitler. Taylor Downing also discusses newly-available evidence on the background to the film's production that conclusively proves that the film was directly commissioned by Hitler and funded through Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda and not, as Riefenstahl later claimed, commissioned independently from the Nazi state by the Olympic authorities. In writing this edition, Taylor Downing has been given access to a magnificent new restoration of the original version of the film by the International Olympic Committee.

Are we finally going to see this film get the release that it should? If the IOC are involved I suspect that it could well end up censored though. I doubt they'd want Hitler showing up in something they're involved in.

"Vhat is this, Kill Hitler Day?"

[Documaniaque]

I'm seriously tired of waiting for this one. It's really absurd for a film of this artistic/historical importance, and with many potential buyers. Maybe we should start a petition here and send it to Edition Filmmuseum asking them to put it out?

Is there some law in Germany against releasing Nazi-propaganda that's preventing a German release of the uncensored version? I'm starting to think there are other factors at play here than the laziness of it's past publishers or a misplaced desire to erase the ugly parts of history. I mean if Arte put it out in the censored version maybe there's some reason we don't know about...

[knives]

To the best of my knowledge in Germany the only censorship law regarding such releases as you're referring to is that it must be cushioned with extensive contextualization and other similarly designed discussion pieces on how what the film is promoting is wrong headed.

[Documaniaque]

OK, I suppose there's still hope then.

it must be cushioned with extensive contextualization and other similarly designed discussion pieces on how what the film is promoting is wrong headed.

Like "Hiter was a bad man and Leni didn't like fat people"? I'm all for historical contextualization, but I don't like be treated like a child who can't watch these things with the necessary distance. Vertov was more or less a Stalinist I believe, and we get his movies uncut, and Ruttmann was bigger Nazi than Leni, though it's true Edition Filmuseum didn't include "Deutsche Panzer" in his box set.