Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938) on Netflix
NR19382h 7mDocumentarySport
Athletes from many nations compete at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, held during the Nazi period. Jesse Owens is among them, and the torch relay devised by Carl Diem is shown.
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- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.7/105,782 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Plot summary
Part one of a two-part record of the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin during the Nazi period. It begins with a lyrical overture recalling the games' origins in ancient Greece, then turns to the competitions. Twenty-one athletic events are covered, among them the high jump, the shot put, the hammer throw and the javelin, and the torch relay that Carl Diem devised for the Games appears. The competitors come from many nations and include Jesse Owens. For the production, cameras are set in the grandstands, automatic cameras go up on balloons and into boats during practice runs, and an underwater camera follows divers into the water. The German government finances the film.
Cast
- Arvo Askolaas Self - 10000 Metres, Finland (uncredited)
- Erwin Blaskas Self - Hammer Throw, Germany (uncredited)
- Sulo Bärlundas Self - Shot Put, Finland (uncredited)
- Ibolya Csákas Self - High Jump, Hungary (uncredited)
- Glenn Cunninghamas Self (uncredited)
- Tilly Fleischeras Self - Javelin Throw, Germany (uncredited)
- Wilhelm Frickas Self - Spectator (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- Ernest Harperas Self - Marathon, Great Britain (uncredited)
- Karl Heinas Self - Hammer Throw, Germany (uncredited)
- Heinz Hermanas German Flag Carrier (uncredited)
- Volmari Iso-Holloas Self - 10000 Metres, Finland (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While Olympia's crew filmed the hammer throw at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Leni Riefenstahl argued with a referee who barred her cameraman Gustav Lantschner from filming; she complained to Joseph Goebbels, who dismissed her as a "hysterical woman", and she was kept out of the stadium until she apologized to the referee.
- Olympia's greatest innovation was an underwater camera: the cameraman followed the divers through the air, dived down with them the moment they hit the water, and kept changing focus and aperture as he went.
- Riefenstahl attached automatic cameras to balloons with instructions to return the film to her, and put automatic cameras in boats during practice runs; amateur photography along the race courses supplemented the professionals' work.
- Riefenstahl toured the United States, meeting Henry Ford and Walt Disney, to try to distribute Olympia there, but Kristallnacht and protests from the Jewish Labor Committee and the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League doomed her efforts.
- In 1955 Riefenstahl agreed to cut three minutes of Hitler footage from Olympia so it could be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and that shortened version went on to be shown on West German television and in cinemas worldwide.
- The 1998 Rammstein cover of Depeche Mode's song "Stripped" has a music video made entirely from footage shot for Olympia.
- Paris-soir falsely reported that Joseph Goebbels had slapped Leni Riefenstahl, called her Jewish, and that she fled to Switzerland.
