Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)

Sadly Over-hyped

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This high-quality sports documentary, photographed in stark b&w by Leni Riefenstahl, features all of the glorious highlights that took place at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany.It also features Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler as he officially proclaims the Games open, as well as footage of Hitler, all decked out in a Nazi uniform (swastikas included) saluting the athletes at the opening ceremonies - And, later, Hitler sitting with his buddies, laughing and smiling and cheering his beloved Germany on to victory.Besides that, this production also includes several "fantasy" sequences that, presented like some sort of a slow-motion ballet, display completely nude male and female figures.All-in-all, Olympia was certainly well worth a view.

One of my fondest hopes is that the present-day cinema community has, perhaps, finally become more enlightened by moving beyond its past need to so ignorantly and personally denigrate Ms. Riefenstahl for her "past political sins". For those who have made this important step in maturity, her film "Olympia" may be viewed on its ARTISTIC merit - the finest example of both direction and cinematography ever seen in a documentary. Her pace of action, camera angles, use of scan/sweep, etc. set the standards for modern excellence using the crude technological tools of 1936. Even the most hardened and indifferent sports "fan" cannot fail to be impressed by her consummate skills. For those of a more political bent, I must agree that the film makes a most definite propaganda statement by glorifying a particular ethnicity. However, this glorification is NOT of the German Nazi party, but of the American BLACK ATHLETE. Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Mack Robinson, Archie Williams, John Woodruff, Cornelius Johnson, and David Albritton are the unquestionable "stars of the show" as they make literal mincemeat of all their so-called Arian competition. The most touching scene is, after the completion of the long jump competition, when Jesse Owens (American Gold Medalist) and Luz Long (German Silver Medalist) walk arm-in-arm as they begin what later turned into a 24-carat friendship. However, for those of you who continue to "never let the data interfere with your theory" - you have my condolences.

This is a brilliant sports documentary - the experimentation with camera angles was revolutionary at the time and the pole vault sequence at night is one of my favourite sequences in a film ever. The athletes are portrayed as superhuman, so in this sense the film is elitist and Nietzschean, but this is certainly not a racist film, politics does not play an explicit role, although one could argue that the deification of athletes (they are shown in close-up, alone, to contrast with the watching masses) promotes the idea that some men are greater than others. A fascinating film, and a definite progression from the standard documentary format of Das Triumph des Willens.

The readers of other reviews of this film may get the impression that every frame of Leni's notorious documentary is a profound lesson in vibrant film technique. This is not entirely true.One of the creakiest elements in "Olympia" is the distorted, pseudo-real-time presentation of the majority of the events, which are described by a plummy-voiced British narrator who was obviously working in a studio long after the actual competition took place. We are rushed through most of the events at warp speed, and apparently we are supposed to believe that this presentation represents an authentic description of what happened. Once you start to question this bizarre cinematic device, it becomes almost intolerable, and one wishes that the fruity-voiced narrator had been the first victim during the Night of the Long Knives.During the progress of the Olympic torch through the various nations to Germany, the figures holding the assorted national flags were apparently animated by about five drawings or "cells" apiece, which makes a bizarre impression of cinematic incompetence. Surely Leni could have filmed actual people instead?About the sound quality, especially the music, one gets the impression that many dubs through many generations were used to produce the final sound track. The resulting bad audio quality is a definite handicap. Since this film has passed through so many hands, any search for the "definitive" version is probably futile. It would no doubt be interesting to see the German language version with accurately translated subtitles. The English language version was probably "sanitized" ideologically to make it more palatable to non-Germans. This was typical of the Nazi method, as exemplified by carefully "sanitized" English translations of Mein Kampf, which omitted Hitler's most outrageous rants concerning the Jews.This movie is propaganda-- a masterpiece of propaganda, perhaps the most artistic and wonderfully filmed propaganda that was ever created, but still propaganda for an incredibly evil regime that murdered incredible numbers of people. You must never forget this as you watch "Olympia."