DIE NIBELUNGEN
(Fritz Lang, 1924)
Germany • 1.33:1 OAR
MoC #41 —
2007
An epic of magnificent proportions — and a success sizable enough to encourage the German film industry to bankroll both Metropolis and F. W. Murnau’s
Faust — Fritz Lang’s
Die Nibelungen continues to cast its shadow across the cinematic landscape more than 80 years on from its initial release. Lang divided his saga, based on the same folklore that inspired Richard Wagner’s cycle of operas, into two separate films which total nearly five hours in length. Yet he also created a work so economical in character and action, and so wondrous and terrifying in its vision, that the idea of
Die Nibelungen as “a silent movie” is seldom likely to cross any viewer’s mind once the opening credits have vanished from the screen...
The first part,
Siegfrieds Tod[Siegfried’s Death], begins with a legendary effects sequence: Siegfried (played by Paul Richter) slays a dragon perched in repose at the edge of a brook, then proceeds to bathe in the creature’s blood — acquiring, in the process, an imperviousness from physical harm. Steeled by his act, he seeks out the hand of Kriemhild (Margarete Schön), the alluring sister of the Nibelungen clan’s king, and ushers in a series of opportune alliances and dread betrayals that finally seal his fate. In the second part,
Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild’s Revenge], Siegfried’s widow, overcome with grief and having acquired a single-minded obsession with revenge, enters into an unholy union with Attila the Hun (Rudolf Klein-Rogge in all his glory) in order to influence the downfall of the Nibelungen clan. The presence of doom is at last made manifest when the film climaxes in one of the most ruthless and physically dangerous sequences ever set to film.
Fritz Lang’s leitmotivs — corruption, bloodlust, insanity — are given form in the picture’s singular art design: both the towering architecture and the intricate costume work come shrouded in patterns that grow increasingly mind-bending as the film moves further along its deathward trajectory.
The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present in a special two-disc edition a new restoration of Fritz Lang’s totemic achievement for the first time on DVD in the UK.
SPECIAL FEATURES –
TBA!