Have always when watching any film, television show or theatre production had at least one main reason for wanting to see it. In the case of 'The Great Leap', there were three. Although not a mountaineering fan, there are some interesting films centered around it. At this point of film history, nobody did adversity in the mountains as effectively as Arnold Fanck. Leni Riefenstahl was far from a bad actress, though always did prefer her as director.
While their collaborations are far from perfect and some are better than others ('The White Hell of Pitz Palu' being a contender for the best, though Riefenstahl's directorial debut 'The Blue Light' is even better than that), they are at least interesting in terms of curiosity value. 'The Great Leap' is not as good as that film, nowhere near, and it has similar problems to 'The Holy Mountain' but it is better than 'Storm Over Mont Blanc'.
'The Great Leap' does have good things going for it. Visually it is masterly. The scenery is incredibly captivating and atmospheric but even better is the cinematography. Not only are there some truly breathtaking images, but the moving camera is so well used and make what happens raw and moving and the points of view interesting. It is a hauntingly scored film again and written with sincerity and good intentions.
Fanck's direction has a lot of impressive parts, especially when capturing the intensity of the action and emotional impact of it. The climax excites and moves in a way that what came before it didn't. Riefenstahl is much better here than in 'The Holy Mountain', she is better in her other films but she over-dramatises a good deal less here and is far from cold. Fanck's direction of her fares better here and is more focused.
Sadly, the rest of the cast don't really register enough and are nothing special. Their severely underwritten characters, that they do nothing with, don't help them and neither does the excessively over-heated and under-developed way it's written. The climax aside, the story doesn't really grip. It can be very dull due to some overlong padding.
Especially in the latter stages, and parts are thinly plotted. In the busier moments things get more complicated than needed.
Overall, watchable but not so great and with too un-engaging a story to be good. 5/10
