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{{short description|1935 Nazi propaganda film}}
{{About|the Nazi propaganda film|the Canadian television series|Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will{{!}}''Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will''}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Triumph of the Will
| image = Triumph des Willens poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = German theatrical poster
| director = [[Leni Riefenstahl]]
| producer = Leni Riefenstahl
| writer = {{Plainlist|
* Leni Riefenstahl
* [[Walter Ruttmann]]
* [[Eberhard Taubert]]
}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Adolf Hitler]]
* [[Heinrich Himmler]]
* [[Viktor Lutze]]
* [[Hermann Göring]]
* [[Max Amann]]
* [[Martin Bormann]]
* [[Walter Buch]]
* [[Richard Walther Darré]]
* [[Otto Dietrich]]
* [[Sepp Dietrich]]
* [[Hans Frank]]
* [[Joseph Goebbels]]
* [[Jakob Grimminger]]
* [[Rudolf Hess]]
* [[Reinhard Heydrich]]
* [[Konstantin Hierl]]
* [[Franz Hofer]]
* [[Robert Ley]]
}}
| music = [[Herbert Windt]]
| cinematography = {{Plainlist|
* [[Sepp Allgeier]]
* [[Franz Weihmayr]]
}}
| editing = Leni Riefenstahl {{small|(uncredited)}}
| studio = Reichsparteitag-Film
| distributor = [[UFA GmbH|UFA]]
| released = {{Film date|1935|03|28|df=y}}
| runtime = 114 minutes
| country = Germany
| language = German
}}
'''''Triumph of the Will''''' ({{langx|de|'''Triumph des Willens'''}}) is a 1935 German [[Nazi propaganda]] film directed, produced, edited and co-written by [[Leni Riefenstahl]]. [[Adolf Hitler]] commissioned the film and served as an unofficial [[executive producer]]; his name appears in the opening titles. It chronicles the 1934 [[Nuremberg Rally|Nazi Party Congress]] in [[Nuremberg]], which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Barsam | first = Richard M | title = Filmguide to Triumph of the Will | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 1975 | location = Bloomington, IN | pages = 21 }}</ref> The film contains excerpts of speeches given by [[List of Nazi Party leaders and officials|Nazi leaders]] at the Congress, including Hitler, [[Rudolf Hess]] and [[Julius Streicher]], interspersed with footage of massed [[Sturmabteilung]] (SA) and [[Schutzstaffel]] (SS) troops and public reaction. Its overriding theme is the return of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] as a [[great power]] with Hitler as its leader. The film was produced after the [[Night of the Long Knives]], and many formerly prominent SA members are absent.

Following its release in March 1935, it became a major example of film used as propaganda and was well-received at home. Riefenstahl's techniques—such as moving cameras, [[aerial photography]], the use of [[long-focus lens]]es to create a distorted [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]], and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and [[cinematography]]—have earned ''Triumph of the Will'' recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history. It won several awards in Germany, France and Italy.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=71}}

During [[World War II]], [[Frank Capra]]'s seven-film series ''[[Why We Fight]]'' was [[Why We Fight#Countering enemy propaganda films|directly inspired]] by ''Triumph of the Will'' and the United States' response to it.<ref name="Triumph of the Will">{{Cite web |url=http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fns07n6.html |title=Triumph of the Will – Film Notes |last=Hagopian |first=Kevin Jack |website=New York Writers Institute |publisher=University of Albany}}"When director Frank Capra was commissioned by the U.S. government to make what became the Why We Fight series of propaganda films in World War II, he screened a copy of Triumph of the Will which had been setd by the U.S. Customs office."</ref> In present-day Germany, the film is not censored but the courts commonly classify it as [[Nazi propaganda]], which requires an educational context for public screenings.<ref>Julia Jacobs, Philipp Schepp: "''Triumph des Willens''{{-"}}. In: Thomas Hoeren, Lena Meyer: ''Verbotene Filme''. Berlin 2007, p. 177. (In German.)</ref> The film continues to influence films, documentaries and commercials to this day.<ref>{{cite journal | first=David B. | last=Hinton | title=Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice? | journal=Cinema Journal | volume=15 | issue=1 | pages=48–57 | year=1975 | publisher=University of Texas Press | doi= 10.2307/1225104| jstor=1225104}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
The film begins with a prologue establishing the present-day as 5 September 1934 and the elapsed time since [[World War I]], the [[Treaty of Versailles]], [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|Hitler's appointment as chancellor]], climaxing in his visit to [[Nuremberg]] on that day. It is the only commentary in the entire film.

'''Day 1''': The film opens with shots of the clouds above the city, and then moves through the clouds to float above the assembling masses below, with the intention of portraying beauty and majesty of the scene. The cruciform shadow of Hitler's plane is visible as it passes over the tiny figures marching below, accompanied by an orchestral arrangement of the ''[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]''. Upon arriving at the Nuremberg airport, Hitler and other Nazi leaders emerge from his plane to thunderous applause and a cheering crowd. He is then driven into Nuremberg, through equally enthusiastic people, to his hotel where a night rally is later held.

'''Day 2''': The second day begins with images of Nuremberg at dawn, accompanied by an extract from the Act III Prelude (''Wach Auf!'') of [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]''. Following this is a [[Montage sequence|montage]] of the attendees preparing for the opening of the Reich Party Congress, and footage of the top Nazi officials arriving at the [[Nazi party rally grounds#Luitpoldarena|Luitpold Arena]]. The film then cuts to the opening ceremony, where [[Rudolf Hess]] announces the start of the Congress. The camera then introduces much of the Nazi hierarchy and covers their opening speeches, including [[Joseph Goebbels]], [[Alfred Rosenberg]], [[Hans Frank]], [[Fritz Todt]], [[Robert Ley]] and [[Julius Streicher]]. Then the film cuts to an outdoor rally for the ''[[Reichsarbeitsdienst]]'' (Labor Service), which is primarily a series of quasi-military drills by men carrying spades. This is also where Hitler gives his first speech on the merits of the Labour Service and praising them for their work in rebuilding Germany. The day then ends with a torchlight [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] parade and fireworks display in which [[Viktor Lutze]] speaks to the crowds.

'''Day 3''': The third day starts with a [[Hitler Youth]] rally on the parade ground. Again the camera covers the Nazi dignitaries arriving and the introduction of Hitler by [[Baldur von Schirach]]. Hitler then addresses the Youth, describing in [[militarism|militaristic]] terms how they must harden themselves and prepare for sacrifice. Everyone present, including General [[Werner von Blomberg]], then assemble for a military pass and review, featuring [[Wehrmacht]] cavalry and various armored vehicles. That night Hitler delivers another speech to low-ranking party officials by torchlight, commemorating the first year since the Nazis took power and declaring that the party and state are one entity.

'''Day 4''': The fourth day is the [[Climax (narrative)|climax]] of the film, where the most memorable of the imagery is presented. Hitler, flanked by [[Heinrich Himmler]] and Viktor Lutze, walks through a long wide expanse with over 150,000 [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] and [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] troops standing at attention, to lay a wreath at a First World War memorial. Hitler then reviews the parading SA and SS men, following which Hitler and Lutze deliver a speech where they discuss the [[Night of the Long Knives]] purge of the SA several months prior. Lutze reaffirms the SA's loyalty to the regime, and Hitler absolves the SA of any crimes committed by [[Ernst Röhm]]. New party flags are consecrated by letting them touch the ''[[Blutfahne]]'' (the same cloth flag said to have been carried by the fallen Nazis during the [[Beer Hall Putsch]]) and, following a final parade in front of the [[Nuremberg Frauenkirche]], Hitler delivers his closing speech. In it he reaffirms the primacy of the Nazi Party in Germany, declaring, "All loyal Germans will become National Socialists. Only the best National Socialists are party comrades!" Hess then leads the assembled crowd in a final ''[[Sieg Heil]]'' salute for Hitler, marking the close of the party congress. The entire crowd sings the ''Horst-Wessel-Lied'' as the camera focuses on the giant Swastika banner, which fades into a line of silhouetted men in Nazi party uniforms, marching in formation as the lyrics "Comrades shot by the Red Front and the Reactionaries march in spirit together in our columns" are sung.

==Production==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R99035, Adolf Hitler und Leni Riefenstahl crop.jpg|thumb|Hitler congratulates Riefenstahl in 1934.]]

Riefenstahl, a popular German actress, had directed her first film called ''[[Das blaue Licht]]'' (''The Blue Light'') in 1932.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=35}} Hitler was impressed with ''Das blaue Licht'', and in 1933 asked her to direct a film about the Nazis' annual [[Nuremberg Rally]], which became ''[[Der Sieg des Glaubens]]'' (''The Victory of Faith'').{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=51}} Hitler chose Riefenstahl as he wanted the film as "artistically satisfying"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Starkman|first=R|year=1998|page=23|title=Mother of All Spectacles: Ray Müller's "The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl"|journal=Film Quarterly|volume=51|number=2 Winter, 1997–1998|publisher=University of California|jstor=3697138|doi=10.2307/3697138}}{{subscription required | date= April 2012}}</ref> as possible to appeal to a non-political audience, but he also believed that propaganda must admit no element of doubt.<ref name="PS2">{{cite book|chapter=War Propaganda|last=Hitler|first=Adolph|title=Primary Sources 2: Interwar and World War II|year=2000|editor1-last=Marwick|editor1-first=A|editor2-last=Simpson|editor2-first=W|publisher=Milton Keynes, The Open University|pages=79–82|isbn=0-7492-8559-1}}</ref>

''The Victory of Faith'' faced numerous technical problems, including a lack of preparation (Riefenstahl reported having just a few days) and Hitler's apparent unease at being filmed.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=55}} Though the film apparently did well at the box office, it later became a serious embarrassment to the Nazis after SA Leader [[Ernst Röhm]], who had a prominent role in the film, was executed during the Night of the Long Knives. All references to Röhm were ordered to be erased from German history, which included the destruction of all copies of ''The Victory of Faith''. It was considered a [[lost film]] until a copy turned up in the 1980s in the [[German Democratic Republic]]'s film archives.<ref name="Leni Riefenstahl: A Life">{{cite book|last1=Trimborn|first1=Jürgen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ql_FeGlS2oIC&q=%22Der%20Sieg%20des%20Glaubens%22&pg=PP142|title=Leni Riefenstahl: A Life|date=2008|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4668-2164-4|language=en|access-date=12 April 2020}}</ref>

In April 1934, Riefenstahl was commissioned by Hitler to create a successor film to ''The Victory of Faith''.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=61}} Riefenstahl however, remained focused on production of her own film ''[[Tiefland (film)|Tiefland]]'' (which was released only in 1954), while fellow director [[Walter Ruttmann]] worked on the party film. Ruttmann's ideals departed significantly from ''The Victory of Faith'' and sought to reorient the focus of the film onto the history of the Nazi movement rather than Hitler himself.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=62}} Hitler visited the studio on 6 December 1934 and permanently removed Ruttmann from the project, leaving Riefenstahl in sole control of what would become ''Triumph des Willens'' (''Triumph of the Will'').{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=63}} Riefenstahl claimed that she attempted to avoid doing the film by committing to ''Tiefland'' and having Ruttmann doing it instead.{{sfn|Niven|2018|p=72}}

===Filming===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-0312-503, Nürnberg, Reichsparteitag, Marsch der Wehrmacht.jpg|thumb|Riefenstahl and her film crew in front of Hitler's car during a parade in Nuremberg]]

The film follows a similar design to ''The Victory of Faith'', with the city of Nuremberg scenes, even to the shot of a cat, included in the city driving sequence in both films.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=58}} [[Herbert Windt]] reused much of his musical score from Victory of Faith, in {{lang|de|Triumph des Willens}}, which he also scored.

Riefenstahl staff had sixteen cameramen, who all had an assistant of their own, using thirty cameras and four complete sound-equipment trucks. 120 assistants worked on the film.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=125}} Riefenstahl shot an estimated 61 hours of footage to create the two hour film.<ref>{{cite news |title=A perfect eye for mythology of the Nazis |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-perfect-eye-for-mythology-of-the-nazis-20030913-gdhdsq.html |access-date=10 September 2022 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=13 September 2003 |language=en}}</ref>

Riefenstahl shot ''Triumph of the Will'' on a nominal budget of roughly 280,000&nbsp;RM (approximately US$110,000 in 1934, $1.54&nbsp;m in 2015).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barsam|first1=Richard|title=Filmguide to Triumph of the Will|url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/ihum42/filmguide.pdf|access-date=28 February 2015}}</ref> However Hans Saupert, chief of staff for [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]], claimed that the actual cost of the film was 1 million RM. Riefenstahl claimed that the film was financed by her own efforts and a distribution agreement with Ufa, but received a large amount of financial support from the Nazis directly and indirectly through construction projects for the rally. She admitted to having a Reich Party Account while being interrogated after World War II and she was reimbursed by the Nazis for all expenditures.{{sfn|Niven|2018|pp=72-73}}

Extensive preparations were facilitated by the cooperation of party members, the military, and high-ranking Nazis like Goebbels. In 1975, [[Susan Sontag]] claimed that "The Rally was planned not only as a spectacular mass meeting, but as a spectacular propaganda film."<ref name="Sontag_1975">{{cite magazine | first=Susan | last=Sontag | author-link=Susan Sontag | title=Fascinating Fascism | magazine=[[The New York Review of Books]] | date=6 February 1975 | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1975/feb/06/fascinating-fascism/?pagination=false}}</ref> Goebbels wanted film propaganda to be done using subtle methods, but ''Triumph of the Will'', which was the opposite of this belief, was produced against Goebbels' wishes.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=125}}

[[Albert Speer]], Hitler's personal architect, designed the set in Nuremberg and did most of the coordination for the event. Pits were dug in front of the speakers' platform so Riefenstahl could get the camera angles she wanted, and tracks were laid so that her cameramen could get traveling shots of the crowd. When the audio from rough cuts was not up to par, major party leaders and high-ranking public officials reenacted their speeches in a studio for her.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Berenbaum | first = Michael | author-link = Berenbaum | title = The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | publisher = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | year = 2007 | location = Washington, D.C. | pages = 24–25 | isbn = 978-0-316-09134-3}}</ref>

===Editing===
Riefenstahl was visited by high-ranking Nazis during the editing process. Hitler suggested the title ''Triumph of the Will'' in September 1934. Goebbels came on 5 December, Hitler and [[Julius Schaub]] on 6 December, and Hess on 7 December. She started with 130,000 metres of film and reduced it to 3,000 metres by March 1935. The final product was almost twice as long as ''Victory of Faith''.{{sfn|Niven|2018|pp=76-78}}

[[Walter von Reichenau]] visited Riefenstahl in December 1934 to see the footage she shot of the military. He was disappointed that Riefenstahl was not going to include the footage in the final film due to the poor quality caused by bad weather during the military exercises. She later produced ''[[Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces]]'' which focused on the military at the 1935 Nuremberg Rally.{{sfn|Niven|2018|pp=82-83}}

==Reception==
''Triumph of the Will'' was approved by the censors on 26 March 1935, and premiered on 28 March at the Berlin Ufa Palace Theater.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=126}} Within two months the film had earned 815,000 [[German Reichsmark|Reichsmark]] (equivalent to {{Inflation|DE|0.815|1933}} million {{Inflation-year|DE}} euros), and Ufa considered it one of the three most profitable films of that year. Hitler praised the film as being an "incomparable glorification of the power and beauty of our Movement." For her efforts, Riefenstahl was rewarded with the German Film Prize (''Deutscher Filmpreis''), a gold medal at the 1935 [[Venice Biennale]], and the Grand Prix at the 1937 [[World Exhibition]] in [[Paris]]. However, there were few claims that the film would result in a mass influx of "[[converts]]" to [[fascism]] and the Nazis apparently did not make a serious effort to promote the film outside of Germany. Film historian Richard Taylor also said that ''Triumph of the Will'' was not generally used for propaganda purposes inside Nazi Germany. ''[[The Independent]]'' wrote in 2003: "''Triumph of the Will'' seduced many wise men and women, persuaded them to admire rather than to despise, and undoubtedly won the Nazis friends and allies all over the world."<ref name="the independent">{{cite news |first= Val|last= Williams|page=xx |title=Leni Riefenstahl |date=10 September 2003 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |department=Obituaries |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-548728.html |url-status= dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830045819/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-548728.html |archive-date=2009-08-30}}</ref>

The reception in other countries was not always as enthusiastic. British documentarian [[Paul Rotha]] called it tedious, while others were repelled by its pro-Nazi sentiments. During World War II, [[Frank Capra]] helped to create a direct response, through the film series called ''[[Why We Fight]]'', a series of newsreels commissioned by the United States government that spliced in footage from ''Triumph of the Will'', but recontextualized it so that it promoted the cause of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] instead. Capra later remarked that ''Triumph of the Will'' "fired no gun, dropped no bombs. But as a [[Psychology|psychological]] weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Capra|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Capra|title=The Name above the Title: An Autobiography|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1977|page=328|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_E09IWRomMC&pg=PA328|isbn=0-306-80771-8|access-date=6 May 2012}}</ref> Clips from ''Triumph of the Will'' were also used in an Allied propaganda short called ''[[General Adolph Takes Over]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/lambeth-walk-nazi-style-1942/ |title=Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style (1942) |publisher=The Public Domain Review |access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> set to the British dance tune "[[The Lambeth Walk]]". The legions of marching soldiers, as well as Hitler giving his Nazi salute, were made to look like wind-up dolls, dancing to the music. The Danish resistance used to take over cinemas and force the projectionist to show ''Swinging the Lambeth Walk'' (as it was also known); Erik Barrow has said: "The extraordinary risks were apparently felt justified by a moment of savage anti-Hitler ridicule."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrow |first=Erik |title=Documentary: A History of Non-fiction Films |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |location=Oxford |page=[https://archive.org/details/documentaryhisto00barn/page/151 151] |url=https://archive.org/details/documentaryhisto00barn/page/151 |isbn=0-19-507898-5 }}</ref> Also during World War II, the poet [[Dylan Thomas]] wrote a screenplay for and narrated ''These Are The Men'', a propaganda piece using ''Triumph of the Will'' footage to discredit Nazi leadership.<ref>{{cite web |title=Into Battle No. 4: These are the Men |url=https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/IULMIA/exhibits/show/war-films-categories/item/104 |website=Indiana University Bloomington |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref>

One of the best ways to gauge the response to ''Triumph of the Will'' was the instant and lasting international fame it gave Riefenstahl. ''[[The Economist]]'' said it "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century."<ref>{{Cite news | title=Leni Riefenstahl: Hand-held history |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=11 September 2003 | url=http://www.economist.com/node/2051630?story_id=2051630}}</ref> For a director who made eight films, only two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl had unusually high name recognition for the remainder of her life, most of it stemming from ''Triumph of the Will''. However, her career was also permanently damaged by this association. After the war, Riefenstahl was imprisoned by the Allies for four years{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} for allegedly being a Nazi sympathizer and was permanently [[blacklist]]ed by the film industry. When she died in 2003—sixty-eight years after the film's premiere—her [[obituary]] received significant coverage in many major publications, including the [[Associated Press]],<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, revered and reviled for her work, dies at 101|last=Rising|first=David|date=9 September 2003|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106324566622718500|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Coy Propagandist of the Nazi Era|last=Petropolous|first=Jonathan|date=11 September 2003|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-filmmaker-and-nazi-propagandist-dies-at-101.html|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Filmmaker and Nazi Propagandist, Dies at 101|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=9 September 2003|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> and ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/10/film.germany|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's favourite film propagandist, dies at 101|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=10 September 2003|newspaper=The Guardian|author-link=Luke Harding}}</ref> most of which reaffirmed the importance of ''Triumph of the Will''.

==Accolades==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! scope="col"| Award
! scope="col"| Date of ceremony
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Recipient(s)
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
! [[Venice Film Festival]]
| [[3rd Venice International Film Festival|1935]]
| Gold Medal
| ''Triumph of the Will''
| {{won}}
| {{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=134}}
|-
|}

==Ethical controversy==
[[File:Julius Streicher 72-920 crop.jpg|thumb|[[Julius Streicher]] in custody in 1945]]

Like American filmmaker [[D. W. Griffith]]'s ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'', ''Triumph of the Will'' has been criticized as a use of spectacular filmmaking to promote a profoundly [[unethical]] system. In her defense, Riefenstahl claimed that she was naïve about the Nazis when she made it and had no knowledge of Hitler's [[genocidal]] or [[antisemitic]] policies. She also pointed out that ''Triumph of the Will'' contains "not one single anti-semitic word", although it does contain a veiled comment by [[Julius Streicher]] that "a people that does not protect its racial purity will perish".

However, [[Roger Ebert]] has observed that for some, "the very absence of anti-semitism in ''Triumph of the Will'' looks like a calculation; excluding the central motif of almost all of Hitler's public speeches must have been a deliberate decision to make the film more efficient as propaganda."<ref name="Ebert_1994">{{Cite news | last = Ebert | first = Roger | author-link = Roger Ebert | title = The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl | newspaper = Chicago Sun-Times | date = 24 June 1994 | url = https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-wonderful-horrible-life-of-leni-riefenstahl-1994 }}</ref>

Riefenstahl said in 1964:

{{blockquote|If you see this film again today you ascertain that it doesn't contain a single reconstructed scene. Everything in it is true. And it contains no tendentious commentary at all. It is history. A pure historical film&nbsp;... it is [[Cinéma vérité|film-vérité]]. It reflects the truth that was then in 1934, history. It is therefore a documentary. Not a propaganda film. Oh! I know very well what propaganda is. That consists of recreating events in order to illustrate a [[Dissertation|thesis]], or, in the face of certain events, to let one thing go in order to accentuate another. I found myself, me, at the heart of an event which was the reality of a certain time and a certain place. My film is composed of what stemmed from that.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Thomson | first = David | author-link = David Thomson (film critic) | title = The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Fifth Edition | publisher = Knopf | year = 2010 | location = New York | pages = 822 | isbn = 978-0-307-27174-7}}</ref>}}

However, Riefenstahl was an active participant in the rally, though in later years she downplayed her influence significantly, claiming, "I just observed and tried to film it well. The idea that I helped to plan it is downright absurd." Ebert states that ''Triumph of the Will'' is "by general consent [one] of the best documentaries ever made", but added that because it reflects the ideology of a movement regarded by many as [[evil]], it poses "a classic question of the contest between art and morality: Is there such a thing as pure art, or does all art make a political statement?"<ref name="Ebert_1994"/> When reviewing the film for his "Great Movies" collection, Ebert reversed his opinion, characterizing his earlier conclusion as "the received opinion that the film is great but evil" and calling it "a terrible film, paralyzingly dull, simpleminded, overlong and not even 'manipulative', because it is too clumsy to manipulate anyone but a true believer".<ref name="Ebert_2008">{{cite news|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080626%2FREVIEWS08%2F911177318%2F1023 |title=Triumph of the Will (1935) |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=26 June 2008 |access-date=12 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110406112429/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080626%2FREVIEWS08%2F911177318%2F1023 |archive-date=6 April 2011 |author-link=Roger Ebert |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Writing in 1975, [[Susan Sontag]] considers ''Triumph of the Will'' the "most successful, most purely propagandistic film ever made, whose very conception negates the possibility of the filmmaker's having an aesthetic or visual conception independent of propaganda." Sontag points to Riefenstahl's involvement in the planning and design of the Nuremberg ceremonies as evidence that Riefenstahl was working as a propagandist, rather than as an artist in any sense of the word. With some 30 cameras and a crew of 150, the marches, parades, speeches, and processions were orchestrated like a movie set for Riefenstahl's film. Further, this was not the first political film made by Riefenstahl for the Nazis (there was ''Victory of Faith'', 1933), nor was it the last (''[[Day of Freedom]]'', 1935, and ''[[Olympia (1938 film)|Olympia]]'', 1938). "Anyone who defends Riefenstahl's films as documentary", Sontag states, "if documentary is to be distinguished from propaganda, is being disingenuous. In ''Triumph of Will'', the document (the image) is no longer simply the record of reality; 'reality' has been constructed to serve the image."<ref name="Sontag_1975"/>  This is considerably different from the position she takes ten years earlier in a 1965 essay entitled "On Style," where she opposes the idea that Riefenstahl's propaganda films are purely propaganda, and writes:  "To call Leni Riefenstahl's ''The Triumph of the Will'' and ''The Olympiad'' masterpieces is not to gloss over Nazi propaganda with aesthetic lenience.  The Nazi propaganda is there.  But something else is there, too, which we reject at our loss.  Because they project the complex movements of intelligence and grace and sensuousness, these two films of Riefenstahl (unique among works of Nazi artists) transcend the categories of propaganda or even reportage.  And we find ourselves&mdash;to be sure, rather uncomfortably&mdash;seeing 'Hitler' and not Hitler, the '1936 Olympics' and not the 1936 Olympics.  Through Riefenstahl's genius as a film-maker, the 'content' has&mdash;let us even assume, against her intentions&mdash;come to play a purely formal role."<ref>Susan Sontag, "On Style," in ''Against Interpretation and Other Essays'' (New York: Dell Publishing Company/Laurel, 1969 [originally published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1966]) pp. 34-35.  In the 1969 paperback edition, she observes that she does not necessarily agree with all the positions expressed in the book's essays, though "when I wrote them, I believed what I wrote" (p. 6).</ref>

==Influences and legacy==
[[File:Dictator charlie2.jpg|thumb|[[Charlie Chaplin]] as Adenoid Hynkel in ''[[The Great Dictator]]'']]
''Triumph of the Will'' remains well known for its striking visuals. As one historian notes, "many of the most enduring images of the [Nazi] regime and its leader derive from Riefenstahl's film."<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Power of Film Propaganda: Myth or Reality? |last=Reeves |first=Nicholas |year=2003 |orig-year=1999 |publisher=Continuum |location=London; New York |isbn=0-82647-390-3 |page=107 }}</ref>

Extensive excerpts of the film were used in [[Erwin Leiser]]'s documentary ''Mein Kampf'', produced in Sweden in 1960. Riefenstahl unsuccessfully sued the Swedish production company Minerva-Film for copyright violation, although she did receive forty thousand marks in compensation from German and Austrian distributors of the film.<ref name=Trimborn240>{{Cite book |title=Leni Riefenstahl: A Life |last=Trimborn |first=Jürgen |year=2007 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=New York |isbn=9780374184933 |page=[https://archive.org/details/leniriefenstahll00trim/page/240 240] |url=https://archive.org/details/leniriefenstahll00trim |url-access=registration }}</ref>

[[File:Lambeth Walk - Nazi Style - by Charles A. Ridley.webm|thumb|''[[Schichlegruber - Doing the Lambeth Walk]]'' or ''Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style'', a short propaganda film made in 1942 by Charles A. Ridley of the [[British Ministry of Information]] editing clips from ''Triumph of the Will'' to make appear as if Hitler and other Nazis were marching to [[The Lambeth Walk]], a dance craze that the Nazis despised]]
In 1942, Charles A. Ridley of the [[British Ministry of Information]] made a short propaganda film called among other names ''[[Schichlegruber - Doing the Lambeth Walk]]'' and ''Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style'', which edited footage of Hitler and German soldiers from the film to make it appear they were marching and dancing to the song "[[The Lambeth Walk]]".<ref group=note>See {{section link||External links}} for video</ref> The targeted-at-Nazis parody of "The Lambeth Walk" (a British dance that had been popular in swing clubs in Germany was denounced by the Nazis as "Jewish mischief and animalistic hopping"<ref>"Nazis Hold Lambeth Walk is 'Animalistic Hopping'", ''[[The New York Times]]'' January 8, 1939, p. 26</ref>). The propaganda film was distributed uncredited to newsreel companies, who would supply their own narration.<ref name="Parody">{{cite magazine|title=The Goofy, Anti-Nazi Parody Video That Enraged Goebbels|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/02/12/_lambeth_walk_nazi_style_the_goofy_anti_nazi_parody_video_that_enraged_goebbels.html|magazine=Slate magazine|date=9 February 2016}}</ref>

[[Charlie Chaplin]]'s satire ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' (1940) was inspired in large part by ''Triumph of the Will''.<ref name=Trimborn123ff>Trimborn, pp. 123–124.</ref> [[Frank Capra]] used significant footage, with a mocking narration in the [[Prelude to War|first installment]] of the propagandistic film produced by the United States Army ''[[Why We Fight]]'' as an exposure of Nazi militarism and totalitarianism to American soldiers and sailors.<ref>Rollins, Peter C (ed.). (2003) “Indoctrination and Propaganda, 1942–1945” The Columbia companion to American history on film: How the movies have portrayed the American past. Columbia University Press. pp. 118.</ref>

==Copyright==
''Triumph of the Will'' remains in copyright. However, the film is commonly mistaken as belonging to the [[public domain]], and it receives frequent unauthorized home video releases as a result.<ref>{{cite web | last=Hall | first=Phil | title=The Bootleg Files: Triumph of the Will | website=Film Threat | date=21 August 2009 | url=https://filmthreat.com/features/the-bootleg-files-triumph-of-the-will/ | access-date=28 February 2024}}</ref>

===Germany===
Riefenstahl initially stated that the Nazi Party held the copyright for the film. She stated that she held the copyright as it was her own creation despite funding from the party after meeting with her lawyer Eugen Krämer in August 1949.{{sfn|Niven|2018|pp=73}}

Riefenstahl filed lawsuits against two postwar documentaries which had incorporated footage of ''Triumph of the Will''. The first lawsuit occurred in 1954 against Wolfgang Hartwig, producer of ''[[Bis fünf nach zwölf – Adolf Hitler und das 3. Reich|Bis fünf nach zwölf]]''. Hartwig argued that the rights belonged to the state, but reportedly eventually paid compensation to Riefenstahl, who donated it to a charity dedicated to returning [[prisoners of war]].{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=148}} Her second lawsuit against Swedish producer [[Erwin Leiser]]'s ''Mein Kampf'' in 1960 was enveloped in greater public debate about the copyright and morality of works produced during the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=150}} The case was settled against her in 1969.{{sfn|Rother|2003|p=149}}

In a judgement by the [[Federal Court of Justice]] on 29 December 1966, the copyright to the film was transferred to the Federal Republic of Germany as the legal successor of Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Meyer|2007|p=179}} These rights are administered by the federally owned Transit-Film GmbH based in Munich, although it was contractually regulated in 1974 that any public screening until 2004 had to be approved by Riefenstahl and that she received 70% of all revenues.{{sfn|Meyer|2007|p=184}}

===United States===
In 1996, the copyrights of the film were restored to Riefenstahl under the [[Uruguay Round Agreements Act]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=Copyright Restoration of Works in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act; Notice |journal=Federal Register |date=August 30, 1996 |volume=61 |pages=46133–46159 |url=https://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/1996/61fr46133.html}}</ref> although some aspect of the US copyrights are uncertain.<ref name=Pessach >{{cite journal |last1=Pessach |first1=Guy |last2=Shur-Ofry |first2=Michal |title=Copyright and the Holocaust |journal=Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities |date=28 April 2019 |volume=30 |issue=2 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1468&context=yjlh |access-date=4 July 2020 |issn=1041-6374|page=9}} (note 37)</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' (1915 American film), which inspired the [[Ku Klux Klan#Second Klan: 1915–1944|"second" KKK]]'s formation
* [[List of German films of 1933–1945]]
* [[Nazism and cinema]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Meyer |first1=Lena |title=Verbotene Filme |date=2007 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |location=Berlin |isbn=9783825801434 |language=de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JECq-6tpU_gC }}
* {{cite book|last=Niven |first=Bill |title=Hitler and Film: The Führer's Hidden Passion |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |date=2018 |isbn=9780300200362}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rother |first1=Rainer |date=1 Oct 2003 |title=Leni Riefenstahl: The Seduction of Genius |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9780826470232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FStAwAAQBAJ }}
*{{cite book|last=Welch |first=David |author-link=David Welch (historian) |title=Propaganda and the German Cinema: 1933-1945 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |year=1983 |isbn=9781860645204}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | author=Cheshire, Ellen | title=Leni Riefenstahl: Documentary Film-Maker Or Propagandist? | journal=Kamera | year=2000 | url=http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/leniriefenstahl.html | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217014854/http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/leniriefenstahl.html | archive-date=17 December 2005 | df=dmy-all }}
* {{cite book | first=Ian | last=Kershaw | year=1987 | title=[[The Hitler Myth]] | pages = 48–49 | location=Oxford, NY | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=0-19-821964-4 }}
* [[William L. Shirer|Shirer, William]]. ''[[Berlin Diary]]: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934–1941''. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. Includes a contemporary account of the 1934 Nuremberg rally.
* {{cite book | first=David Calvert | last=Smith | year=1990 | title=Triumph of the Will: A Film by Leni Riefenstahl | location=Richardson, TX | publisher=Celluloid Chronicles Press | url=http://www.geocities.com/emruf4/triumph.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020220112841/http://www.geocities.com/emruf4/triumph.html|archive-date=20 February 2002}} (Complete screenplay.)
* {{cite book | first=David | last=Welch | year=1993 | title=The Third Reich Politics and Propaganda | pages=65–72 | location=New Fetter Lane, London | publisher =Routledge | isbn=0-415-09033-4 }}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020907132320/http://www.dasblauelicht.net/new_page_2.htm Das Blaue Licht: Triumph des Willens (1935)], the original Riefenstahl website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030622191345/http://www.dasblauelicht.net/triumph_des_willens3.htm Screenplay of ''Triumph of the Will''], DasBlaueLicht.net
* [http://www.leniriefenstahl.it/hinter/index.htm ''Hinter den Kulissen des Reichsparteitag-Films''], Riefenstahl's 1935 book on the making of the film with many photographs {{in lang|de}}
* {{IMDb title|0025913}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|2=Triumph of the Will}}

{{Leni Riefenstahl}}
{{Fascism}}
{{Adolf Hitler}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Triumph Of The Will}}
[[Category:1935 documentary films]]
[[Category:1935 films]]
[[Category:1930s German-language films]]
[[Category:Black-and-white documentary films]]
[[Category:1930s historical films]]
[[Category:German black-and-white films]]
[[Category:German documentary films]]
[[Category:German historical films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Leni Riefenstahl]]
[[Category:Films of Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Films shot in Bavaria]]
[[Category:Nazi propaganda films]]
[[Category:Nuremberg Rally films]]
[[Category:Films about Adolf Hitler]]
[[Category:UFA GmbH films]]
[[Category:1930s German films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Herbert Windt]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]