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Die Nibelungen
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Zen and the Art of DVDs
Die Nibelungen
Unrated
1924, Kino
If there's a precursor to director Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the second installment of his elaborate Rings trilogy, it's director Fritz Lang's 1924 two-part medieval tale Die Nibelungen. Based on the Nordic Siegfried myth, Die Nibelungen was a mainstream epic targeted at mass audiences and proved to be a worldwide hit despite protests from Germany's left-wing community over the film's nationalist leanings.
The Nazis used Die Nibelungen as a tool for propaganda during its re-release in 1933, and it provides a valuable outlook on the culture that allowed Hitler's rise to power. A step away from its political subtext, Die Nibelungen remains a spectacular epic whose elaborate sets and camera effects hold up today.
Like the Rings trilogy, Lang used the best special effects available at the time and enjoyed a massive 31-week shooting schedule. Helped by his screenwriter wife Thea von Harbou, he adapted the epic poem into a tale of honor and blood sacrifice. The hero Siegfried (Paul Richter) must win a bride for his brother, King Gunther (Theodor Loos), in order to win the hand of the beautiful Kriemhild(Margarete Schoen). Betrayals and murder bring about Siegfried's downfall, and it's up to Kriemhild to seek revenge.
In one of the film's most dazzling scenes, Alberick, the guardian of the Nibelungen treasure, taunts Siegfried with images of wealth projected on the wall of Alberich's underworld cave. Siegfried reaches out to the treasure, despite the fact that he understands it can't be real. The same thing is true for the film's initial audiences, who were bedazzled by its trick effects.
Kino's stunning restoration of Die Nibelungen, restored on two discs with a photo gallery of production sketches and 100 minutes of additional footage unseen by Western audiences, represents the best potential of the DVD phenomenon. The DVD release brings some much-needed attention to Lang, who became one of Germany's most famous directors in the 1920s, escaped from the Nazis and struggled to reinvent himself in Hollywood. With the exception of Metropolis, Lang's silent films are obscure.
It's unclear exactly where the DVD revolution will or should lead us in terms of what we watch. Hopefully, other long-ago classics like Die Nibelungen will be made available to the public.
Blockbuster releases like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Signs attract the most attention and shelf space at the video rental shops. Kids movies like Hey Arnold! The Movie, based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon show, or The Country Bears, a live-action comedy based on a popular Walt Disney World attraction, also grab a sizable piece of the video spotlight.
Classic movies like director Sidney Lumet's cop drama Serpico and director Billy Wilder's Hollywood noir Sunset Boulevard recently enjoyed their DVD debuts alongside cult favorites like the vampire thriller Near Dark. Little-seen art-house fare like Angela, director Rebecca Miller's 1995 drama about a 10-year old girl trying to escape her harsh family life, discover a second life on DVD. Boxed sets including entire seasons of recent TV shows like Once and Again and Felicity and cult series like Space: 1999 and Thunderbirds. The artistic potential of the DVD format is best revealed in 1 Giant Leap, a compilation of musical and spoken word performances filmed in 25 different locations in 20 different countries around the world.
The most exciting prospect is the DVD format acting as film preservationist. This is the case with Die Nibelungen. It's a welcome chance to own a film that really matters.
Die Nibelungen CityBeat grade: A.
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