WONDERFUL,
HORRIBLE LIFE OF LENI RIEFENSTAHL/B+, B
GERMANY/1993/YELLOW ENGLISH SUBTITLES/BW AND
COLOR/FULLSCREEN 1.33:1/MONO/188 MINUTES/DIRECTED BY RAY MULLER/KINO/45 CHAPS/2
DISCS/CLV-CAV/$69.99
This woman is amazing! Here she is skin diving at age ninety-one,
looking amazingly youthful and responding to director Muller on camera with candor and
clarity belying the years.
Watching this fascinating film produces a mixed bag of emotions. This
was, after all, Hitlers filmmaker, the woman he chose to immortalize the Third
Reich. If you can believe Riefenstahl, she was not aware of the atrocities that were the
sick signature of Hitlers regime. The footage from Triumph of the Will and Olympia,
Riefenstahls most famous documentaries, are well integrated with Mullers
questioning of Riefenstahl. Riefenstahls commentary over her films is often
fascinating. Along with the more famous footage, there are segments of Riefenstahl in
Africa living with the Nuba tribes, the aforementioned filmmakers work underwater
and wonderful clips from films Leni Riefenstahl performed in as an actress.
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl is a great title for
this documentary that provokes such mixed emotions. Filmmaker Muller does not go easy on
Riefenstahl in his Q & A sessions. He challenges her claim of innocence on more than
one occasion prompting protestations from Riefenstahl. Mullers integration of
historical footage with present day interview settings insures that this film moves
quickly. It is hard to believe that it runs more than three hours. Whatever conflicting
emotions may be evoked by Mullers film, this is worthwhile viewing.
The condition of the original Riefenstahl films are in very good
condition. The present day sequences are excellent, particularly the underwater footage.
This may not be a document ideally suited to showing off the laser disc medium, but it is
a chunk of history depicted with care and professional results. The sound has been used in
powerful fashion. |
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Laser Disc
Ratings
|
12
Monkeys Special/A-,B+ |
12
Monkeys/ B+,B |
1941
SE/ C-, B- |
a
la Mode/B+,B+ |
A
Pure Formality/C,B |
After the Fox/C+,B |
Alaska/B,B+ |
Albino
Aligator/C+,B |
Alfie/B,B |
Amateur/B+,C+ |
American
President/ B+, B+ |
Apache/C+,C+ |
Apocalypse Now/A-,A- |
Apollo
13 SpecialA,A |
Apollo 13//A,A |
Appaloosa/C+,C+ |
Assassins/C,A |
Bad
and the Beautiful, The/A,B+ |
Basquiat/C+,B |
Bend of the River/ B, B+ |
Belle Epoque/B+,A- |
Bhagdad
Cafe/B,B |
Big
Country/ B, C |
Big Deal on Madonna Street/B,B |
Big
Picture, The/B,B |
Big
Trees, The/C+,C+ |
Bingo
Long and His Traveling All-Stars/B+,A |
Blood and Wine/B,B |
Blue Kite/B+,B |
Bogus/C,C+ |
Bordello of Blood/C-,A- |
Borderline/C+,B |
Bound/B+,B+ |
Brazil
Special Edition/B+,A- |
Bride
Came COD/B-,B |
Bringing
Up Baby/A,B |
Brute Force/B+,B+ |
Bulletproof/C,B+ |
Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid/B,A- |
Call
Nothside 777/B+,C+ |
Camille
Claudel/ A, B+ |
Canterville
Ghost/C+,C+ |
Caro Diario/A-,A- |
Captain from Castile/B,B+ |
Casino/
C+, B |
Casper/C+,A |
Cause
for Alarm/C,B- |
Celestial
Clockwork/B+,B- |
China Moon/B+,A |
Christmas in July/A,B+ |
Christopher
Columbus(1949)/C,C |
Come and Get It/B,B+ |
Commandments/C+,B+ |
Courage Under Fire/B,A |
Crash/C+,B+ |
Crimson Tide/A-,A |
Crossing
Guard, The/B,B+ |
Cutthroat
Island/C, A |
Dante's
Peak/B-/B |
Daylight/B,A- |
Dead
Man Walking/C+,B+ |
Dead Man/C+,A- |
Dead
Presidents Special/ B+,A |
Dersu Uzala/B+,B |
Diabolique(1995)/C+,C |
Diary
of Ann Frank/ A-,B |
Dodes'ka-den/ B+, B+ |
Double
Happiness/ B+,B+ |
Dragon/B+,A |
Dune/C+,B+ |
Earrings
of Madame de.../ B+, B+ |
Enemy
Below/ B, B |
Englishman Who Went..../C,B |
English Patient/B+,A |
Ermo/B-,B- |
Escape from LA/B-,A |
Everybody's
Fine/C+,C+ |
Executive
Decision/B+,A |
Eye
for an Eye/B,B+ |
F.I.S.T./B,B |
Face-Off/B+,A |
Family Thing/B,B+ |
Farewell My Concubine/A-,A |
Far
Country/ B-, C+ |
Field
of Dreams Special/A-,B+ |
Field
of Dreams/ A-, B |
Fierce Creatures/B-,B+ |
Fires on the Plain/B+,B |
Firestarter/C+,C+ |
First
Knight/ C-, B+ |
First
Wives Club/C+,B+ |
For Whom the Bell Tolls/B-,B+ |
French Kiss/B-,B+ |
Fugitive,The(1947)/B-,B |
Frankie
Starlight/B+,B |
Freaks/B+,B |
Free
Willy 2/B-,B+ |
Funny Bones/A,A |
Get Shorty/ A, A |
Goldeneye/
B, A |
Ghost Story/B,B |
Great
Escape(MGM)/A-,B- |
Great
Expectations/A,B+ |
Greystoke:
The Legend of Tarzan/B+,C |
Grosse Point Blank/A-,A- |
Grumpier
Old Men/B-,B+ |
Gun
in Betty Lou's Handbag, The/B,C- |
Happy
Gilmore/ B-, A- |
Hard Boiled/B-,B+ |
Hard Eight/B,C+ |
Harriet
the Spy/B,A |
Haunting,
The/A,B+ |
Head
Above Water/D+,B |
Heat/A-,B |
Heaven
and Earth/B+,A- |
Helen
of Troy/C+,B+ |
Henry V/A,B |
Hill,The/A-,B |
Hoop Dreams/A,A |
Horseman on the Roof/B-,B |
Innocent,
The/ C, C |
Innocents,
The/ A, A- |
Interrupted
Melody/C+,C |
Into the West/A,B+ |
Inventing
the Abbots/B-,B+ |
Jack/C+,A- |
Jean
de Florette/ A-, B- |
Jumanji/
B+, B+ |
Kansas
City/D+,C+ |
Kentuckian/B-/B |
Kingpin/B,B+ |
Kolya/A-,A- |
Kwaidan/A,A- |
La
Dolce Vita/ A, B |
Last
Dance/B,B+ |
Last
Man Standing/C,B |
Last
Supper, The/B-,B+ |
League of Gentlemen/B,B |
Leave
Her to Heaven/B+,B+ |
Les
Miserables/ B, B+ |
Liar,Liar
Special/B+,A |
Lili/A-,C |
List
of Adrien Messinger/B,B+ |
Lonely are the Brave/A-,A- |
Lord of Illusions/B,A- |
Love
Jones/B,A- |
Malice/B+,B+ |
Mask,The/A-,A |
Mi Familia/A-,A- |
Michael/C+,A |
Miracle
of Morgan's Creek/B,B- |
Mirage/B,B- |
Mission
Impossible/C+,B+ |
Mona Lisa/B+,B+ |
Morgan/B,C+ |
Mulholland Falls/C+,B |
Muriel's
Wedding/ B, B+ |
My
Name is Nobody/C,C |
Mystery of Rampo/ A-, B |
Natural Born Killers/B,B+ |
Nell/B,A- |
Net,
The/ C, B+ |
Nixon/B+,A |
Nothing
Sacred/B,C |
Old
Man and the Sea/B,B |
Othello/A-,B+ |
Peeping Tom/A-,A- |
Raw
Deal/B+,B |
Red Firecracker,Green Firecracker/B+,A |
Repulsion/A,A |
Restoration/B+,A |
Richard III/A,A |
Ridicule/A-,B- |
River Wild/B+,A- |
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion/B,B |
Room
at the Top/A-,B |
Rosewood/B,B+ |
Scopio/B,C |
Seven
SE/ B+, A |
Shawshank Redemption/A-,A |
She/B,B- |
Shining
Through/C+,B |
Silence of the Lambs/A,A |
Sling
Blade/A,B+ |
Slingshot/A,A- |
Something
to Talk About/ B-, B+ |
Spartacus Special Edition/A,A |
Species/C,B+ |
Star
Trek: First Contact/C+,A- |
Stars Fell on Henrietta/ C+,B+ |
Stealing
Beauty/B,B |
Strange
Days/ C+, B+ |
Striptease/D,A- |
Sudden
Death/ B, A- |
Sullivan's
Travels/B+,B |
Surviving
Picasso/C,B+ |
T-Man/B,B |
That
Old Feeling/B-,A- |
That
Thing You Do/B,C+ |
They
Drive By Night/B,B |
Thieves(Les
Voleurs)/B,B |
Things
You Do in Denver When You're Dead/D+,B+ |
This
Sporting Life/A-,B+ |
Timemaster/
D, C |
Tom
and Viv/B-,B- |
Tortilla
Flat/B+,B |
Trainspotting/B-,B+ |
Trees
Lounge/B-,B- |
Trigger Effect/B-,B+ |
Two
Bits/C,B |
Unforgettable/C,C+ |
Umbrellas of Cherbourg/B+,B |
Unzipped/B-,B- |
Usual
Suspects/ B-,C+ |
Valdez is Coming/C+,B- |
Vengeance
Valley/B,C+ |
Vertigo/A-,A- |
Virtuosity/
C+, A |
Wait
Until Dark/B,B- |
Walk in the Clouds, A/ A-, |
Walkabout/B/B- |
Waterworld/ B+, B |
White
Man's Burden/ B, B+ |
White
Squall/ B,A |
Whole Wide World/B,B |
Wicked
City/ B, C+ |
Wild
Bill/ C+, B |
Window
to Paris/ B,B |
Witness/B+,A- |
Wonderful,Horrible World Life..../B+,B |
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