Enchanting! But beware of the silent version!
This film was made in a sound and a silent version, as there were some theaters at the time that were still not equipped for sound. Unfortunately, it is the silent version that is being widely sold. This version is vastly inferior. The sound version is a hauntingly beautiful film. I have a sound version, but it is of poor quality and many subtitles are difficult to read. This film should be remastered. There are superb quality short excerpts from the film in The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl.
Leni Riefenstahl passed away yesterday at the age of 101. She died in her sleep. At the age of 100, she was still scuba diving!
She may have been the greatest motion picture director of all time, but she was forbidden from making motion pictures for over half a century, an incalculable loss to the art of film. I hope that they issue restored versions of her movies now, particularly my favorite, "The Blue Light", a fairy tale set in the Alps, a movie that she - a young girl then - wrote, directed, and starred in!
Note: I previously posted part of this commentary a couple of years ago (see below), but it was posted as "Anonymous" for some reason.
