Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Fritz Lang (writer)
Thea von Harbou (writer)

Release Date:

1924 (Poland)

Genre:

Fantasy | Drama | Adventure

Plot:

Siegfried, son of King Sigmund, hears of the beautiful sister of Gunter, King of Worms, Kriemhild. On his way to Worms...

Plot Keywords:

King | Dragon | Spear | Mask | Blood

Cast

Gertrud Arnold	...	Koenigin Ute
Margarete Schön	...	Kriemhild
Hanna Ralph	...	Brunhild
Paul Richter	...	Siegfried
Theodor Loos	...	Koenig Gunther
Hans Carl Mueller	...	Gernot
Erwin Biswanger	...	Giselher
Bernhard Goetzke	...	Volker von Alzey
Hans Adalbert Schlettow	...	Hagen Tronje
Hardy von Francois	...	Dankwart
Georg John	...	Mime, der Schmied / Alberich, der Nibelung
Frida Richard	...	Die Runenmagd
Yuri Yurovsky	...	Der Priester (as Georg Jurowski)
Iris Roberts	...	Der Edelknabe
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fritz Alberti	...	Dietrich von Bern
Grete Berger	...	Hunnenweib
Hubert Heinrich	...	Werbel
Rudolf Klein-Rogge	...	Koenig Etzel
Georg August Koch	...	Hildebrand
Rudolf Rittner	...	Ruediger von Bechlarn

Also Known As:

Die Nibelungen: Siegfrieds Tod (Germany)
Siegfried
Siegfried's Death
Siegfrieds Tod (Germany)

Runtime:

Canada:140 min | Germany:143 min (restored integral version) | Germany:97 min | USA:100 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Berliner Union-Film Studio, Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Decla-Bioscop AG

Trivia:

The dragon in the film is not a miniature. It is a full-scale puppet 60 feet long.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La doble vida del faquir (2005)

One of the best adventure movies ever

When I saw this wonderfully exciting adventure film, it got me thinking, "Why can't people make films like this anymore?". Partly why the film makers don't make films like this anymore is that they are so occupied in having the best special effects around and don't give a hoot about the characters, story or detail (Jurassic Park, Lost World, Independence Day, Armageddon are only a small part). I would love to go and see a film that have real characters from these make-believe worlds. There are so many movies today that have Americans in a make-believe world, acting and talking like Americans, this makes me sick all over. This movie has real characters we care about in a believable world. This is partly why I love silent films so much. It is the acting and not the dialog that the viewer gets to know the character through.

This film has all the elements that makes up for a good adventure film. Very good story, exciting action, wonderful sets, beautiful photography, chillingly wonderful villains and some of the best special effects I've seen (for the time's standard). I especially love the trick photography to make Siegfried invisible and casting a shadow even though he is. I'm looking forward to watching Kriemhild's Revenge.

If you haven't seen this movie and love adventure movies, see it. It is so exciting and magical that you'll remember it always when you see a bad adventure movie, something that is normal today.