The main comment scares me.
This flick was made during the waning days of the third Reich to cheer
up German troops. Most theaters were bombed so barely anyone got to see
it. Anysnooch, they lost the war about a month after it was released. Nice to watch, but it was made by nazis.
it would be interesting to have, just to say hey i got a REAL Nazi propaganda movie
watch where you go for each moment is a lifetime of terror for i am the real Red Menace
I'm really looking for this movie, since I'm doing a paper on it, comparing this movie with Eisenstein's Nevksy (I'm a history student at a Dutch university). If anyone knows any way to get it ASAP, please let me know!
Thanks.
If you haven't found it yet, I got it from International Historic Films:
http://www.ihffilm.com/
I'm a college instructor doing research on using films for teaching, and I also found it interesting to compare those two movies.
Monica in Canada
I found it interesting to compare Triumpth of the Will with Oktober.
I saw them the first time back-to-back. Interesting experience.
Actually nunchaku nc it was made to encourage the German people to get involved with the Volksturm movement, the arming of citizens, to make a last stand against the Allied liberation. The story of Kolberg was used because it featured a militia raised from the population who won.
The Volksturm was, of course a different story, relying as it did mainly on old men or boys who were doomed to failure.
Historically it's a vital and vibrant film, even though the story has been heavily edited to fit the warped needs of the Third Reich. It's a great example of propaganda, as well as being quite stunning.
It might be taken as propaganda, but then propaganda which is targeted to own citizens only, as Philip wrote above.
Hitler was a huge movie buff and was obviously keen to have this epic done - to such extent that tens of thousands of troops were hauled from the front to be extras in the film. I wonder who they felt about it, playing soldiers in a sieged city while their own country was sieged by vastly superior masses of enemies.
I wonder if Hitler enjoyed the film? he probably did, as a part of his escapist activities (such as his architecture hobby).
I had the pleasure of viewing this film but once - at the old Davis Theater on Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Though the memories are a bit faded - ( I recall it being around 1970 ) - it was an impressive bit of work, and quite controversial even back then. What most sticks in my mind is the wonderful Norbert Schultze score.
Schultze was a composer of some renown. During the Hitler years, he was eclipsed only by Herbert Windt, who wrote the music for Leni Riefenstahl's two masterpieces, "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia". Some of Schultze's music used to be available on CD, including the Opera, "Das Kalte Herz".
Well considering anyone captured by the Soviets had ten years of slave labor in the Soviet Union to look forwards to, if they survived it, I'd think they'd rather enjoy being a part of the film instead of that.
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