Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)

The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.

Director:

Leni Riefenstahl

Writer:

Leni Riefenstahl

Stars:

David Albritton, Arvo Askola, Jack Beresford

2 wins.

Cast

Uncredited cast:
David Albritton	...	Self - High Jump, USA (uncredited)
Arvo Askola	...	Self - 10000 Metres, FIN (uncredited)
Jack Beresford	...	Self - Carries British Flag (uncredited)
Erwin Blask	...	Self - Hammer Throw, German (uncredited)
Sulo Bärlund	...	Self - Shot Put, Finland (uncredited)
Ibolya Csák	...	Self - High Jump, Hungary (uncredited)
Glenn Cunningham	...	Self (uncredited)
Henri de Baillet-Latour	...	Self - IOC, Stands with Hitler, with Hurdlers (uncredited)
Philip Edwards	...	Self - 800 Metres, Canada (uncredited)
Donald Finlay	...	Self - 110m Hurdles, GB (uncredited)
Tilly Fleischer	...	Self - Javelin Throw, Germany (uncredited)
Wilhelm Frick	...	Self - Spectator (uncredited)
Joseph Goebbels	...	Self - Spectator (uncredited)
Hermann Göring	...	Self - Spectator (uncredited)
Ernest Harper	...	Self - Marathon, GB (uncredited)

Storyline

After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. Includes the marathon, men's diving, and American track star Jesse Owen's sprint races at the 1936 Olympic games. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Includes the lighting of the torch at the stadium and Adolf Hitler looking on in amazement as Jesse Owens wins an unprecedented four Gold Medals.

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Plot Keywords:

olympic stadium berlin | athlete | olympics | berlin olympics | nazi germany | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Sport

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was chosen by Premiere magazine as one of the "100 Movies That Shook the World" in the October 1998 issue. The list ranked the "100 most daring movies ever made."

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Connections

Featured in Contact (1997)

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Soundtracks

Olympische Hymnne
Richard Strauss

User Reviews

Comment on gbheron Review

As you nicely pointed out the NFL footages that you watch today, and those of Olympia that were shot some 60+ years are the same. Which means that NFL is still using techniques that Leni Riefenstahl explored long time ago, which further means that she's 60+ years ahead of her time. When you denounce something you have to look at it from the historical context. This was groundbreaking at time, and every sport event coverage since borrowed from it. Leni Riefenstahl actually wanted to be catapulted with a camera to give an incredible feel of one of a kind sports event, but this could not be carried out. NFL ought to try some of this innovation that Leni considered long time ago, we're much more technologically advanced now...

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Italian French Japanese Portuguese

Release Date:

8 March 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Olympiad

Filming Locations:

Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Company Credits

Production Co:

Olympia Film GmbH, International Olympic Committee, Tobis Filmkunst

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis-Klangfilm)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1