Cheap Triumph of the Will (Special Edition) (DVD) (Leni Riefenstahl) Price

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Customer Reviews of Triumph of the Will (Special Edition)

The Luitpold Arena on a sunny day in early September ( 1934 ).
Other reviewers have given good descriptions of the overall merits (or demerits) of "Triumph of the Will", including the role of Leni Riefenstahl in the making of the film. <
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>I would therefore like to concentrate on the outdoor Memorial Ceremony which was held on day 4 of the sixth party congress. <
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>This is probably the most spectacular scene in the film, and occurs at the Luitpold Arena, which constituted only one section of the Nazi Nuremberg "complex". <
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>The Luitpold Arena was basically a parade ground with a hall and speaker's platform at one end, and a Hall of Honour (the Ehrenhalle) at the opposite end. <
>The Erenhalle was erected in 1929 as a memorial to those who died in World War 1. It is easily recognized by its 9 distinct arches. <
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>The Luitpold Arena memorial scene opens with a close-up view of one of the two giant eagles at each end of the speaker's platform. <
>(These 2 eagles were the work of sculptor Kurt Schmid-Ehmen). <
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>The camera then slowly pans from the eagle to 3 figures walking from the Speaker's Platform end of the Arena towards the Erenhalle at the far end . It is a fine sunny day in early September, 1934, and the music on the film soundtrack is "Ich hatte eine kameraden" (I once had a comrade ). <
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>These three men are - Hitler (in the centre,and slightly ahead of the other two), Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS on Hitler's left (on the right side of the screen), and Viktor Lutze, head of the SA (stormtroopers or "Brownshirts" ). <
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>The man who would normally occupy Lutze's position, Ernst Rohm, was killed only 3 months earlier, after the "Night of the Long Knives" . Lutze replaced Rohm as head of the SA in July . ( Hitler made a brief reference to this incident in his speech from the podium in another scene ). <
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>What was particularly impressive about the outdoor Memorial segment, was the sight of these 3 men walking along a wide aisle between columns of approximately 150,000 SA and SS men. ( This aisle was referred to as the "Strasser des Fuhrers" - or the "Fuhrer's way"). The instant impression was one of overwhelming unity, conformity, and power! <
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>The purpose of this Memorial ceremony was to salute the Blutfahne ( blood flag ) from the 1923 Munich putsch, where 16 Party members were killed . The Blutfahne was situated in the centre of a large memorial wreath in front of the Ehrenhalle. <
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>After saluting the flag, Hitler, Himmler, and Lutze proceeded to walk back to the Speaker's platform at the other end of the Luitpold Arena. <
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>I have given this film 4 stars, mainly because of it's historical value, and my parting remark is - "Thank God I wasn't born into Hitler's Germany" . <
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My copy a dud
Having first seen this film at university twenty years ago I was really looking forward to watching this scary but masterful political propaganda film once again but my copy was a dud. About 70 minutes into the film it started to get the wobblies. The images became broken up and pixelated and then the image froze altogether whilst the sound continued. Then the sound froze. I had to keep fast forwarding to get through the glitches. QA could not have been to rigorous. The digital reproduction on the DVD is poor at this point and this continues throughout the whole of the SS review. <
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>I'll be asking for my money back. <
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Time Cannot Erode.
An assault for certain, and all the more nefarious due to its artistic merit. Before going any further, to address this edition specifically, I have to say that it greatly enhances the film. It has an optional professor's narrative which can be enabled to play along as one watches. I know a considerable amount about the era, but found that I learned much from listening in to his lecture. <
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>There are two important justifications for valuing Triumph of the Will. First, even though it is contrived and propagandistic, we are privy to a primary source document from the period-which, historically speaking, is an end in itself. The Nazis were human beings, all-be-they particularly evil ones; men (for the most part) as opposed to Goblins or Orcs. We see this clearly with Himmler who appears to be the only one in SS uniform that cannot goosestep, and also in the awkward interaction between Herr Reichsfeuhrer and his master upon the podium. They don't know whether to shake hands or continue to jut their arms out erectly. Triumph... reveals, perhaps unintentionally, much that cannot be described by narrative or second hand account. <
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>A second reason to see and preserve this documentary is that it makes us more grateful for the democracies in which we live. Through these planned shots and compulsively rehearsed movements, we can feel what it must have been like to have had the misfortune to live within the pincer prongs of a totalitarian state. When confronted by this picturesque masterpiece, we feel a sympathy for the Germans that was not possible 60 years ago. For them, there was no CNN or BBC or Fox News; there was only Dr. Goebbels, and the projects and information he approved or fabricated. No way of hearing the truth was possible, unless they risked their lives to come across it. <
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>Life under the Nazis was as communitarian as could be, and that, as an American, is what I found most repellent. Being submerged within a uniformed mass of citizens is something our Founders would have never tolerated-and thank God for that! A life of conformity and ritual is not a life at all. Having to line up like the workers and youth here to listen to blowhards bellow was certainly an underrated barbarism of that time. Only the Nazis could have turned Nuremberg Party Day into a week's worth of activities. This is a living dedication to narcissistic leadership and the victory of self-adulation over reason. This society was so militarized that even the men of the National Labor Service wielded their spades as if they were rifles. Hitler appears often before us, and is presented in his best light. Yet, one can sense his detachment, and note his manners which are more studied than real. He peers out from hotels and airplanes with a benevolent expression while never remotely caring about the people he is supposed to guarding. Yes, this movie is very slanted, but all the horror you need to see remains visible.