Leni Riefenstahl's "Ballet" Olympia
Leni Riefenstahl's "Ballet" Olympia:

Leni Riefenstahl surprisingly described her 1936 documentary film, Triumph of the Will, as having "a balletic quality," noting the close choreography between the soundtrack, the rhythm of the shots, and the movements of the soldiers. In her next documentary, Olympia (1938), Riefenstahl act...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Hall, Patricia (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Windt, Herbert > 1894-1965
Riefenstahl, Leni > 1902-2003
Triumph des Willens
Olympia > Film, 1938
Choreografie
Ballett
Online Access:DE-255
Summary:Leni Riefenstahl surprisingly described her 1936 documentary film, Triumph of the Will, as having "a balletic quality," noting the close choreography between the soundtrack, the rhythm of the shots, and the movements of the soldiers. In her next documentary, Olympia (1938), Riefenstahl actually achieved this ideal, particularly in the climax of the nearly four-hour film, the men’s diving event. Without commentary, and accompanied by Herbert Windt’s music, she shows male divers framed against a clouded sky, in different degrees of slow motion that accentuate their balletic arm and leg movements. Beginning with the three-meter springboard and climaxing with the ten-meter platform dives, Windt’s soundtrack creates a reverse choreography, in that the heavily accented music is superimposed on the already existing movements of the divers. By analyzing the structure and rhythmic accents of Windt’s themes, this essay shows how the musical form corresponds to the complex rhythm of shots that produce the formal design of the film. The entire excerpt creates a musical composition with transitions and subsections, characteristic of the filmic model Riefenstahl learned from her mentor, Arnold Fanck.
Physical Description:Illustrationen
ISBN:978-1-003-35779-7

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