Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)

Siegfried, son of King Sigmund, hears of the beautiful sister of Gunter, King of Worms, Kriemhild. On his way to Worms, he kills a dragon and finds a treasure, the Hort. He helps Gunther to... See full summary »

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou

Stars:

Paul Richter, Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos

2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gertrud Arnold	...	Queen Ute
Margarete Schön	...	Kriemhild
Hanna Ralph	...	Brunhild
Paul Richter	...	Siegfried
Theodor Loos	...	King Gunther
Hans Carl Mueller	...	Gernot
Erwin Biswanger	...	Giselher
Bernhard Goetzke	...	Person from Alzey
Hans Adalbert Schlettow	...	Hagen Tronje
Hardy von Francois	...	Dankwart
Georg John	...	Mime the blacksmith / Alberich the Nibelung
Frida Richard	...	The Runes Maid
Yuri Yurovsky	...	The Priest (as Georg Jurowski)
Iris Roberts	...	The precious boy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fritz Alberti	...	Dietrich von Bern

Storyline

Siegfried, son of King Sigmund, hears of the beautiful sister of Gunter, King of Worms, Kriemhild. On his way to Worms, he kills a dragon and finds a treasure, the Hort. He helps Gunther to win Krimhild, a mask that makes him invisible proves to be very useful. But because Brunhild is cursing Kriemhild, she tells her what really happened. Now Brunhild wants Siegfried's head. Is Gunther going to do her that favor?

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Plot Keywords:

hero | king | dragon | treasure | sword | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

1924 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Die Nibelungen

Filming Locations:

Berliner Union-Film, Oberlandstraße 26-35, Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Decla-Bioscop AG,Universum Film (UFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

143 min 143 min (restored integral) 158 min (Belgian Filmmuseum, Brussels)

Sound Mix:

Silent De Forest Phonofilm (US release)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

Siegfried has his sword drawn during the fight in Gunther's hall. When Kriemhild's entry stops the fighting it hangs by his side again.

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Crazy Credits

Karl Vollbrecht receives a credit as "Erbauer des Drachens" -- 'dragon builder'.

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Connections

Referenced in Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland (1977)

User Reviews

a perfect adventure

For those of you who don't know about it, "The Nibelungenlied" is to German literature what "Beowulf" is to English literature. The story of Siegfried, a warrior who must help a prince win a princess, was made into an ultra-cool movie by Fritz Lang. Most people might imagine 1920's cinema as primitive by today's standards, but this was a very good technical production. Whether it's Siegfried (Paul Richter) slaying a dragon, or becoming invisible to help the prince win a contest, every part of the movie has something neat.

A strange irony to this movie was what it almost did for Fritz Lang. Adolf Hitler loved the movie and used "The Nibelungenlied" to represent a "strong Germany". Joseph Goebbels asked Fritz Lang if he would like to make propaganda films for the Nazis. Fritz Lang said that he would think about it and quickly fled the country (in the United States, he continued turning out famous movies). Lang's wife, Thea Von Harbou, stayed in Germany and worked for the Nazi propaganda machine.

No matter. It's a great movie.