Directed by Leni Riefenstahl • 1938 • Germany
More has been written about Leni Riefenstahl's OLYMPIA than about any other sports documentary in history. In part two of OLYMPIA, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon. Despite the film's fascist origins, OLYMPIA has achieved a certain respectability and endures as a monument of cinema, and of a malevolent ideology.
Up Next in 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912–2012
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Fight Without Hate
Directed by André Michel • 1948 • France
Twelve years had passed since the last edition of the Olympic Games when nations finally came together again, in the wake of World War II, to carry on the Olympic tradition at the V Olympic Winter Games St. Moritz 1948. The tone of André Michel's FIGHT WI...
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XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport
Directed by Castleton Knight • 1948 • United Kingdom
The official film of the Games of the XIV Olympiad London 1948 is the first in color and seeks to comprise both the winter and summer events from that year. The coverage of the sports cannot be faulted, as cinematographer Stanley Sayer marshal...
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The VI Olympic Winter Games, Oslo 1952
Directed by Tancred Ibsen • 1952 • Norway
Director Tancred Ibsen's penchant for depicting rustic life shines through in the bucolic scenes at the start of THE VI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, OSLO 1952. In addition to the exciting scenes of competition (Winter sports are followed with almost rabid fervo...
