Triumph of the Will (1935) on Netflix
NR19351h 50mDocumentaryHistoryWar
Adolf Hitler flies into Nuremberg for the Nazi Party's 1934 congress, where some 700,000 supporters gather. Crowds line the streets as his motorcade passes and party leaders gather to speak.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.1/1018,635 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Plot summary
In September 1934 the Nazi Party holds its congress in Nuremberg, and more than 700,000 supporters attend. Adolf Hitler arrives by plane, descending through clouds over the assembling crowds and landing at the airport, where Nazi leaders step out to applause. He is then driven into the city in an open car past streets hung with swastika flags, while onlookers give the Nazi salute. The congress unfolds without narration, in sequences of arrivals, parades, preparations and speeches, among them addresses by Rudolf Hess, who opens the proceedings, Joseph Goebbels, Hans Frank, Robert Ley and Julius Streicher. Massed Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel troops and the public's reaction fill the screen, and the event is staged as a sign of Germany's return as a great power under Hitler.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Walter Buchas Self - Views Parade of SA in Long Pants, No Banners, Views SS Parade
- Walter Darréas Self - Health of Our Farmers Speech
- Otto Dietrichas Self - Truth About Germany Speech
- Jakob Grimmingeras Blood Flag Bearer
- Konstantin Hierlas Self - National Labour Service Speech, Presents RAD to Hitler, Leads RAD Parade Then Joins Hitler
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Triumph of the Will (1935)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Adolf Hitler visited the studio on 6 December 1934 and permanently removed director Walter Ruttmann from the project, leaving Leni Riefenstahl in sole control of what became Triumph of the Will; she claimed she had tried to avoid the film by committing to Tiefland instead.
- Albert Speer, Hitler's personal architect, designed the Nuremberg set and coordinated the event; many marches were faked with actors and staged in advance before Riefenstahl arrived. Pits were dug in front of the speakers' platform for the camera angles she wanted, and tracks were laid so cameramen could shoot traveling shots of the crowd.
- Riefenstahl's staff had sixteen cameramen, each with an assistant, using thirty cameras and four sound-equipment trucks, plus 120 assistants; she shot an estimated 61 hours of footage to create the two-hour film.
- Clips from the film were used in an Allied propaganda short called General Adolph Takes Over, in which marching soldiers and Hitler giving his Nazi salute were made to look like wind-up dolls dancing to "The Lambeth Walk". Danish resistance members took over cinemas and forced projectionists to show it under the name Swinging the Lambeth Walk.
- For a director who made eight films, only two of which received significant coverage outside Germany, Leni Riefenstahl had unusually high name recognition for the rest of her life, most of it from Triumph of the Will, but her career was permanently damaged by the association. After the war she was imprisoned by the Allies for four years and blacklisted by the film industry.
- Triumph of the Will is not banned in today's Germany; in 2018 the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Young Persons rejected an application to index an imported version, explaining that it is a historical document of high art-historical value.
