Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" is one of the most controversial films ever made. Capitalizing on the success of "Triumph of the Will," her propaganda film for the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl secured Hitler's approval for her grandiose plans to film the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The result was a work as notorious for its politics as celebrated for its aesthetic power. Taylor Downing provides an indispensable guide to this major work of film documentary. He gives the full story of how Riefenstahl negotiated relative independence from the Nazi authorities by pitting Hitler against Goebbels, the propaganda minister, who wanted complete control. Downing also gives a filmmaker's insights into the logistical and technical problems thrown up by managing a production which employed nearly forty cameramen to shoot 400,000 metres of film. He concludes that though its political effect was to glorify Nazi achievements, the film undeniably set the standard for Olympic filmmaking for the next five decades.
- ISBN10 1844575829
- ISBN13 9781844575824
- Publish Date 7 October 2017 (first published October 1992)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint BFI Publishing
- Edition 2nd edition
- Format eBook
- Pages 128
- Language English
- URL http://bloomsbury.com/