The Victory of Faith
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The Victory of Faith | |
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Universum Film AG | |
Release date |
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Running time | 64 minutes |
Country | Nazi Germany |
Language | German |
Der Sieg des Glaubens (English: The Victory of Faith, Victory of Faith, or Victory of the Faith) is the first Nazi
The form of the film is very similar to her later and much more expansive film of the 1934 rally,
Synopsis
Like her
The events shown are in roughly chronological order, starting with the arrival of Hitler in
Marching troops feature again in the final sequences in the main parade ground, with tributes to the fallen from Hitler and Röhm, and various flag ceremonies which appear to have quasi-religious significance to the members of the party. The shots of marching feet and legs has an almost hypnotic effect on the viewer, well parodied by a later British wartime short which edits the time of the marching to the popular song "The Lambeth Walk".
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm, head of the SA and, at the time, the second most powerful man within the Nazi Party, is prominent in The Victory of Faith. In less than a year, during the Night of the Long Knives, Röhm and many of his lieutenants would be executed under Hitler's orders. Hitler personally roused Röhm from his bed at his lakeside hotel when he arrested him for alleged treason in devising a plot against Hitler, a trumped up charge created by Himmler, Göring and Reinhard Heydrich. All references to Röhm were ordered to be erased from German history, which included the destruction of all known copies of the film in 1934, probably on Hitler's order.[2]
The 1935 film Triumph of the Will was produced to replace it but differs in that the upper hierarchy of the Party, "Hitler's paladins",[3] do not receive nearly as much attention in the later film as they did in the earlier one.
Relation to Triumph of the Will
Riefenstahl's next propaganda film, Triumph of the Will, which documented the next year's party rally, follows a similar script, which is evident when one sees both films side by side. For example, the city of Nuremberg scenes – down to the shot of a cat that is included in a car-driving sequence in both films. There are panning shots across the roofs of the old town, showing the city awakening before the rally starts in earnest. The camera angles and editing that made Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will a ground-breaking film are already demonstrated in The Victory of Faith. Furthermore, Herbert Windt reused much of the musical score for this film in the later one, which he also scored.
Preservation status
After the war, it was assumed that all copies had been destroyed, including Riefenstahl's personal copy, making it a
See also
- Leni Riefenstahl
- List of German films 1933-1945
- Nazism and cinema
- Nazi propaganda
- List of rediscovered films
- Nuremberg rallies
- Festliches Nürnberg
References
- ^ "New York Times - Movie reviews". Archived from the original on 2003-10-25. Retrieved 2005-10-20.
- ISBN 038535438X
- ISBN 0-19-282234-9
External links
- Der Sieg des Glaubens is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Victory of the Faith at IMDb
- Victory of the Faith at AllMovie