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A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ Triumph of the Will -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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A digital reclamation of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, has been ongoing for nearly two years.


Digital work has been spearheaded by Greg Kimble, who has been working with multiple computers, and sets of software to massage the best image from the decades old 35mm duplicate fine grain master.


Working at a pace of a shot or two a day, except for longer sequences, which can take a week or more, he and I have learned a great deal about how the film was shot, how effects were produced, and how the myriad of cameras, optics, and daily drift in processing and prints all came together.


One of the things that we acknowledged from day one, was that the release can never be pristine -- that light damage, fine scratches, and other occasional detritus would always be evident, if the project were to come to fruition.


Every time I receive a shot, and question grain structure, the look of a dupe, an odd camera movement lending to stability problems, I receive Mr. Kimble's forensics.


In Reel 8, there is a long sequence, with Hitler making a speech on a raised platform. Intercut with very long shots, long shots, medium shots and close ups, the image varies widely in quality. In order to get things under control, it needed to be determined which shots were dupes, field enlargements, long lenses, etc.


Just for fun, I'm posting today's forensic image, delineating camera positions in an attempt to explain why shots look as they do.


forensics.jpg



Also, and just for fun, here's an example of what Albert Speer's Sea of Flag's might have looked like, had it used Handschiegl. The thousands of flags on parade probably would have been impossible, but for a steady shot...


7_045_hand.jpg



The new Blu-ray (and an updated DVD) will be released by Synapse, with a release date forthcoming shortly.


RAH
 

bryan4999

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I so appreciate these glimpses "behind the scenes". The skill and effort required is astounding.
 

JoHud

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Good to see the blu-ray is still in the works and nearing the home stretch after news on this release seemed to dry up over a year ago.


Appreciate all the hard work in producing the best possible presentation.
 

Angelo Colombus

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One of the greatest propaganda films of all time..scary and artfully mastered at the same time. Watch the great documentary The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) after you see it.
 

Mike Boone

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As usual, RAH is a terrifically valuable source of info. But guess this means I'll soon be reducing the value of my bank account, in spite of having recently added the DVD of Triumph of the Will to my collection. Oh well, double dipping (and even triple, with titles like LOA) has become a fine old tradition.
 

EddieLarkin

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JoeDoakes said:
Ok, I'm not embarrassed, What is Handschiegl?

A colour process. I think the moments of colour in The Big Parade used it, as did one sequence from The Phantom of the Opera
 

PODER

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And while on the subject of Ms. Riefenstahl, does anyone know when a decent copy of OLYMPIAD might be released? Every Olympics since has paid tribute to her pioneering film-making.
 

Robert Harris

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PODER said:
And while on the subject of Ms. Riefenstahl, does anyone know when a decent copy of OLYMPIAD might be released? Every Olympics since has paid tribute to her pioneering film-making.
A brilliant film, and afaik, the OCN does survive, or at least did awhile back when it was protected.

Would make a great Blu.

RAH
 

theonemacduff

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Albert Speer noted in his first set of memoirs that some of the close-ups in the film were actually reshoots, done in the studio, and he records his amazement that some of the party big-wigs were able to reproduce, just like actors, their "enthusiasm" as it had been on the original day. But perhaps that just shows his naivety at that time. A Riefenstahl (sp?) boxed set on blu might be nice, including her "alpine" films of the 30s.
 

Richard Gallagher

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Robert Harris said:
A brilliant film, and afaik, the OCN does survive, or at least did awhile back when it was protected.

Would make a great Blu.

RAH

A 239-minute version of Olympia was screened at the Copehagen Film Festival in 2013.


http://cphdox.dk/en/screening/ai-weiwei-pr%C3%A6senterer-olympia


In 2013 it was reported that the rights to the film were sold in 2002 by the German government to the International Olympic Committee. What the IOC plans to do with the film is unclear.


http://www.thelocal.de/20130422/49289


I recall that the quality of the Criterion laserdisc was good, although it's been almost 20 years since I last viewed it. The DVD versions which are currently available are said to be dreadful.
 

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