Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

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Documaniaque
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:06 pm

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#76 Post by Documaniaque » Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:04 pm

I'm seriously tired of waiting for this one. It's really absurd for a film of this artistic/historical importance, and with many potential buyers. Maybe we should start a petition here and send it to Edition Filmmuseum asking them to put it out?

Is there some law in Germany against releasing Nazi-propaganda that's preventing a German release of the uncensored version? I'm starting to think there are other factors at play here than the laziness of it's past publishers or a misplaced desire to erase the ugly parts of history. I mean if Arte put it out in the censored version maybe there's some reason we don't know about...

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#77 Post by knives » Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:42 pm

To the best of my knowledge in Germany the only censorship law regarding such releases as you're referring to is that it must be cushioned with extensive contextualization and other similarly designed discussion pieces on how what the film is promoting is wrong headed.

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Documaniaque
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Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#78 Post by Documaniaque » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:17 am

OK, I suppose there's still hope then.
knives wrote:it must be cushioned with extensive contextualization and other similarly designed discussion pieces on how what the film is promoting is wrong headed.
Like "Hiter was a bad man and Leni didn't like fat people"? I'm all for historical contextualization, but I don't like be treated like a child who can't watch these things with the necessary distance. Vertov was more or less a Stalinist I believe, and we get his movies uncut, and Ruttmann was bigger Nazi than Leni, though it's true Edition Filmuseum didn't include "Deutsche Panzer" in his box set.

Image

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knives
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Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#79 Post by knives » Wed Dec 21, 2011 3:57 pm

Vertov was for Lenin styled communist, not Stalinist. Though otherwise I agree that some of these laws are excessive.

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Documaniaque
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Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#80 Post by Documaniaque » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:27 pm

knives wrote:Vertov was for Lenin styled communist, not Stalinist.
I stand corrected.

So, who knows what cinema archive(s) in Germany posesses the uncut Olympia?

Class316
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:27 pm

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#81 Post by Class316 » Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:32 am

Here's info on the Criterion LD. Even that is only 200 min, when according to Wikipedia it's 226 min.

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#82 Post by antnield » Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:28 pm

TMDaines wrote:Amazon updated their product information for the second edition of the BFI Film Classic book for Olympia recently:
 ... In writing this edition, Taylor Downing has been given access to a magnificent new restoration of the original version of the film by the International Olympic Committee.
Are we finally going to see this film get the release that it should? If the IOC are involved I suspect that it could well end up censored though. I doubt they'd want Hitler showing up in something they're involved in.
In the new preface Downing makes it clear that the IOC have restored the version that first premiered in Berlin. They've also restored the self-promoting 'making of' that Riefenstahl commissioned too. (I've reviewed the second edition of the book for the Digital Fix here.)

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#83 Post by TMDaines » Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:03 pm

I've got the second edition waiting for me at my home address too. Look forward to reading it in a few weeks. I really hope we get a decent version of this film soon but I'm some what doubtful with all the shit versions that keep coming out too. There's yet another one listed for the UK on Moviemail in the next couple of months.

Class316
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:27 pm

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#84 Post by Class316 » Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:02 pm

antnield wrote:In the new preface Downing makes it clear that the IOC have restored the version that first premiered in Berlin.
wow I hope that version makes it to blu ray

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Documaniaque
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Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#85 Post by Documaniaque » Sun Jun 09, 2013 6:17 am

Class316 wrote:
antnield wrote:In the new preface Downing makes it clear that the IOC have restored the version that first premiered in Berlin.
Okay, so it's been restored by the IOC. That's great news. But if no DVD company is currently negotiating the rights from them then we're not seeing a disc anytime soon. Can anyone say that's happening?

An interesting article about the sale of the film to the IOC: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20130422-49289.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Class316
Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:27 pm

Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#86 Post by Class316 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:24 pm

I am convinced we will never see a propper release of this. I found a good deal on the criterion laserdisc. $32 shipped and it's in very nice shape. I have no LD player but I hope to find a way to get it copied to DVD so I'll have the best version possible. After all this is the only home released version approved by Leni herself, right?

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Documaniaque
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Re: Olympia (Leni Riefenstahl, 1938)

#87 Post by Documaniaque » Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:20 am

Original uncut version shown in Copenhagen festival last year?
http://cphdox.dk/en/screening/ai-weiwei ... er-olympia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It says 239 minutes which sounds promising...

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