Die Nibelungen, Teil 1 - Siegfried (1966)

Volker von Alzey, the royal bard of the Burgunds (far greater then modern Burgundy), ruled by the Christian, papist king Gunther, who has two brave, loyal brothers and a sister Kriemhild, ... See full summary »

Director:

Harald Reinl

Writers:

Harald G. Petersson, Harald Reinl

Stars:

Uwe Beyer, Rolf Henniger, Siegfried Wischnewski

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Uwe Beyer	...	Siegfried
Rolf Henniger	...	König Gunther
Siegfried Wischnewski	...	Hagen
Maria Marlow	...	Kriemhild
Hans von Borsody	...	Volker von Alzey
Terence Hill	...	Giselher (as Mario Girotti)
Fred Williams	...	Gernot
Dieter Eppler	...	Rüdiger von Bechlarn
Samson Burke	...	Blo-Edin
Skip Martin	...	Alberich
Hilde Weissner	...	Königin Ute
Barbara Bold	...	Hildegunt
Ingrid Lotarius	...	Gudrun
Maria Hofen	...	Frigga
Djordje Nenadovic	...	Slaodel (as George Heston)

Storyline

Volker von Alzey, the royal bard of the Burgunds (far greater then modern Burgundy), ruled by the Christian, papist king Gunther, who has two brave, loyal brothers and a sister Kriemhild, tells in rhyme the tale of Siegfried of Xanthen, who in the northern kingdom of the Lowlands was a forgery apprentice, till his jealous rival's attack made him drench his blade in blood, which made it all-splitting, the right means to slay the feared-most dragon, Rachnir, whose blood makes him, once bathed in it, invulnerable; Alberich, king of the Alves, whose helmet of invisibility he beats, shows him the dragon-protected ring of the Nibelungen, and he sets out by ship for Iceland, to awake its maiden queen Brunhild, but refuses to stay with her, returning southward to rule from Xanthen on the Rhine and seek himself a queen. Siegfried challenges Gunther at Easter to a duel for both realms, is however proposed instead a preferable marital alliance with Gunther's sister Kriemhild. Just after their ...

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Plot Keywords:

first part | epic | remake | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

West Germany Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Release Date:

13 December 1966 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy

Filming Locations:

Golubac Fortress, Golubac, Serbia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avala Film, Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Alternate Versions

The Italian version is actually a 123' long joining of this move and the second part.

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Connections

Edited into Das Schwert der Nibelungen (1966)

User Reviews

A Masterpiece!

This movie is really great! Great directing, photography (just watch the scenes in Iceland), sets, score (get the double-cd release of the scores for both films on Cobra Records if you are fond of this score), acting (I can't take my eyes of Karin Dor as Brünhild...) and script (I love the way they changed the story to address some of the ambiguities of the material, like the reason why Siegfried and Brünhild already know each other, but still retain the feeling of the original Nibelungenlied) make this movie together with it's second part "Kriemhilds Rache" a masterpiece. But avoid the version that cut together the two parts "Siegfried" and "Kriemhilds Rache" to "Das Schwert der Nibelungen" aka "Those who carry the seed of destruction" (or something like that), it really doesn't show this masterpiece in all it's glory, and might give you the wrong ideas about this two movies. These are two movies just screaming for a DVD release!