Leni Riefenstahl
Research Assessment on a Personality in the Twentieth Century: Leni Riefenstahl a) Describe the major influences that led to the rise to prominence of your chosen personality in her nation’s history.
The major influences that led to Leni Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence includes a fateful event that kindles her fascination with film, the continual influence of mountain (Berg) films and acclaimed director Dr Arnold Fanck as well as her first début as a director and producer.
In 1925 Leni Riefenstahl injured her knee whilst dancing in Prague which threatened to end her dancing career. Fatefully, it was this injury that introduced her to mountain films as she came across an advertising poster for Berg des Schicksals (Mountain of Destiny) a mountain film directed by Dr Arnold Fanck on her way to the doctor. Riefenstahl was very intrigued by the film and was so impressed that she returned each night for a week to see Fanck’s Mountain of Destiny. She was “spell bound” by the “vivid, lifelike images of majestic mountains” and as she watched, her own “mountain film destiny” was revealed. The themes of the struggle to survive and natural beauty featured in such mountain films would later appear as a major influence in Riefenstahl’s own work as a director both from the technical and artistic point of view.
Only 18 months after the day she became aware of mountain films and her new career, Riefenstahl appeared in her first film directed by Dr Arnold Fanck. Fanck was to become more than her lover and director, he was to become her mentor and one of the main influences on her directorial career which was to be the pinnacle of her success. Working on Fanck’s films as an actress allowed her to learn various aspects of filmmaking such as the roles of the director, cinematographer and technician. Furthermore, Fanck enjoyed experimenting with certain methods using the camera and editing techniques in new and innovative ways. From Riefenstahl’s film career we know that she
The major influences that led to Leni Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence includes a fateful event that kindles her fascination with film, the continual influence of mountain (Berg) films and acclaimed director Dr Arnold Fanck as well as her first début as a director and producer.
In 1925 Leni Riefenstahl injured her knee whilst dancing in Prague which threatened to end her dancing career. Fatefully, it was this injury that introduced her to mountain films as she came across an advertising poster for Berg des Schicksals (Mountain of Destiny) a mountain film directed by Dr Arnold Fanck on her way to the doctor. Riefenstahl was very intrigued by the film and was so impressed that she returned each night for a week to see Fanck’s Mountain of Destiny. She was “spell bound” by the “vivid, lifelike images of majestic mountains” and as she watched, her own “mountain film destiny” was revealed. The themes of the struggle to survive and natural beauty featured in such mountain films would later appear as a major influence in Riefenstahl’s own work as a director both from the technical and artistic point of view.
Only 18 months after the day she became aware of mountain films and her new career, Riefenstahl appeared in her first film directed by Dr Arnold Fanck. Fanck was to become more than her lover and director, he was to become her mentor and one of the main influences on her directorial career which was to be the pinnacle of her success. Working on Fanck’s films as an actress allowed her to learn various aspects of filmmaking such as the roles of the director, cinematographer and technician. Furthermore, Fanck enjoyed experimenting with certain methods using the camera and editing techniques in new and innovative ways. From Riefenstahl’s film career we know that she