Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938)

Director:

Leni Riefenstahl

Writer:

Leni Riefenstahl (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Plot:

The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, orchestrated as Nazi propaganda.

Plot Keywords:

Olympics | Propaganda | Soccer | Decathlon | Gymnastics

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jack Beresford	...	Himself (rower, Britain)
Ralf Berzsenyi	...	Himself (small-bore rifle, Hungary)
Ferenc Csík	...	Himself (swimmer, Hungary)
Richard Degener	...	Himself (springboard diver, USA)
Willemijntje den Ouden	...	Herself (swimmer, Holland)
Charles des Jammonières	...	Himself (free pistol, France)
Velma Dunn	...	Herself (platfom diver, USA)
Konrad Frey	...	Himself (gymnastics, Germany)
Marjorie Gestring	...	Herself (springboard diver, USA)
Albert Greene	...	Himself (springboard diver, USA)
Tetsuo Hamuro	...	Himself (1st place, 200m breaststroke, Japan)
Josef Hasenöhrl	...	Himself (single sculls rower, Austria)
Heinz Hax	...	Himself (rapid-fire pistol, Germany)
Alois Hudec	...	Himself (gymnastics, Czechoslovakia)
Cornelius Johnson	...	Himself (high jump winner)
Adolph Kiefer	...	Himself (swimmer, USA)
Masaji Kiyokawa	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Käthe Köhler	...	Herself (platform diver, Germany)
Reizo Koike	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Erich Krempel	...	Himself (free pistol, Germany)
Eugen Mack	...	Himself (gymnastics, Switzerland)
Shozo Makino	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Rie Mastenbroek	...	Herself (swimmer, Holland)
Jack Medica	...	Himself (swimmer, USA)
Glenn Morris	...	Himself (decathlon, USA)
Dorothy Poynton	...	Herself (diver, USA) (as Dorothy Poynton Hill)
Katherine Rawls	...	Herself (springboard diver, USA)
Michael Reusch	...	Himself (gymnastics, Switzerland)
Willy Rögeberg	...	Himself (small-bore rifle, Norway)
Elbert Root	...	Himself (platform diver, USA)
Aleksanteri Saavala	...	Himself (gymastics, Finland)
Gustav Schäfer	...	Himself (single sculls rower, Germany)
Alfred Schwarzmann	...	Himself (gymnastics compeditor, Germany)
Johanna Selbach	...	Herself (swimmer, Holland)
Neda Senff	...	Herself (swimmer, Holland)
Arai Sheigo	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Uto Shumpei	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Erwin Sietas	...	Himself (swimmer, Germany)
Herman Stork	...	Himself (platform diver, USA)
Leon Stukelji	...	Himself (gymnastics, Yugoslavia)
Noboru Terada	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)
Torsten Ullman	...	Himself (shooting compeditor, Sweden)
Albert van den Weghe	...	Himself (swimmer, USA)
Cornelius van Oyen	...	Himself (rapid-fire pistol, Germany)
Matthias Volz	...	Himself (gymnastics, Germany)
Conrad von Wangenheim	...	Himself (steeplechase, Germany)
Catherina Wagner	...	Herself (swimmer, Holland)
Josef Walter	...	Himself (gymnastics, Switzerland)
Marshall Wayne	...	Himself (diver, USA)
Rolf Wernicke	...	Narrator
Masanori Yusa	...	Himself (swimmer, Japan)

Also Known As:

Olympia - Fest der Schönheit - Zweiter Film von den olympischen Spielen Berlin 1936 (Germany) (poster title)
Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (International: English title) (literal title)
Olympia: The Film of the XI. Olympic Games, Part II (UK)

Runtime:

Sweden:96 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

International Olympic Committee

Trivia:

The production company Olympia-Film-GmbH, owned by Leni Riefenstahl and her brother Heinz, was only a front to preserve the film's political independence in front of the International Olympic Committee. It was in fact entirely funded by the III Reich. The recently-found original contract stipulates that Olympia-Film-GmbH would be dissolved once production completed and the copyrights would be the sole property of the Reich. The dissolution only took place years later, on 9th January 1942, with Riefenstahl being awarded 20% of the film total earnings and naming the State as the only lawful copyright owner.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ai yori ai e (1938)

Template for other documentaries, yet much more beautiful.

I watched this film in my International Cinema class, and it was quite interesting. The movie starts out rather oddly, with naked bathing men and about 8 dialogue-free minutes of various people working out. The best part of this film (for me) is near the end. It was the men's high-dive section. Leni set the camera up under the divers and, as they fall, they look as if they're flying. The viewer loses almost all sense of which way is down as they watch the diver tumbling/soaring through the air.

Another enjoyable part is the horse-riding section, which plays out similar to an ESPN blooper reel, with riders falling from their horses on difficult jumps. But in this film, it's much more gorgeous through the help of slow motion and fairly tight framing.

All in all, a well crafted documentary.