La vengeance de Siegfried

Harald Reinl made a decent movie adaption of the epic of the Nibelung. But if I had to choose (forced by superior dark forces or simply by bad karma) I would, without hesitation, decide to watch Fritz Lang's movies again: despite the fact that his work are silent movies (part one and two) and shot in black and white, but his adaption is just too epic, strong, and the expressionistic approach in acting and producing makes Lang's vision a true piece of art. Anyway, if you don't know Reinl's and Lang's movies, watch them all.

Saw this film when it came out in Mexico city, around Christmass of 1967. the tittle was "Whom the Gods Wishes to Destroy", subtitle "Los Nibelungos" (Spanish for "Die Nibelungen). If the first part was 91 minutes and the second part was 110, that makes 201 minutes. The complete version I saw was 195 minutes. I don't know how nearly 6 minutes of can damages any film, specially in the sixties when a film of tree hours or more was a norm. Also, the film opened at the Cine Manacar, one of those wonderful movie palaces of the era now long go, in a superb 70mm print, with 6 tracks stereophonic sound. and asset that i'm afraid no DVD or the best Home Theatre will cant match today. Yes the film is must for moviegoers. It's a pity not to see it the way was originally shown.

The legend of Siegfried and Brunhild , loosely based on characters from the Norse sagas and the pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs outlined in the Nibelungen saga . The picture is based on Germanic mythology ,¨Der Niebelungen¨, a Nordic legend that inspired J. R. R. Tolkien to write the Lord of the Ring trilogy . It tells the legend of a hero named Siegfred (Uwe Beyer) , not knowing that he is heir to a conquered kingdom, becomes popular with the Burgunds by slaying their bane , the dragon Fafnir . Siegfred bathes in its blood , exception for a body part where falls a leaf . As the young blacksmith meets the location where is stashed the Niebelungen treasure that's protected by a dwarf and the fabulous dragon . He takes the huge treasure , but Siegfried ignores the curse that lies on the hoard which now seems to endanger his love for beautiful Norse warrior queen Brunhild (Karin Dor , director's wife , Harald Reilm) . Later on , Siegfried marries a princess of Burgundios named Kriemhild (Maria Marlow) , sister of a powerful king , König Gunther (Rolf Henniger) . Along the way , Hagen (Siegfried Wischnewski) will try to take the Niebelungen gold . Some time later , a queen will execute her vengeance , fulfillment a prophecy of rampage , ravage and destruction.

This is a great adventure based about the classic Germanic myths , Siegfried and Nibelungs . This epic movie contains drama , action , thrills , legends , spectacular battles and gorgeous scenarios . The Nibelungs is based on known Germanic legends , even Richard Wagner composed operas about the notorious feats : ¨Gold of Rhin¨ , ¨Walkirias cavalcade¨ and ¨the ring of Nibelungs¨ . Besides , inspiring to J. R. R. Tolkien and his ¨Lord of Rings¨ . Starring Uwe Beyer is pretty good as Siegfried who became invulnerable vanquishing every enemies after numerous battles and confronting many dangers , misfortunes and risks . In the film appears Terence Hill or Mario Girotti , before his duo with Bud Spencer and previously becoming a spaghetti western hero . While Karin Doris is very attractive and enjoyable , along with Maria Marlow as Kriemhil and other German actors , such as : Rolf Henniger, Siegfried Wischnewski , Hans von Borsody, Fred Williams, Samson Burke, Dieter Eppler, among others. The motion picture was well directed by Harald Reilm . German director of commercially successful entertainments, often Heimatfilms, war dramas or crime thrillers . Reinl began in films as a stunt skier for Arnold Fanck in 1930 and then doubled for Leni Riefenstahl in The White Intoxication (1931). A junior ski champion, he managed a French ski school during the 1930s, before taking up full-time directing just prior to World War II . He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1950s and '60s, cleverly anticipating genre trends , especially with his series of Karl May westerns (The Treasure of the Silver Lake , Winnetou I , Winnetou: Last of the Renegades) , Adventures (The Crazy Jungle Adventure, Night on Mont-Blanc , Romarey: operation Mazaref , Bergkristall , Hell Hounds of Alaska , Nibelungs) , Thriller or Euro-spy (Death and Diamonds , Agent X against the red tigers, Jerry Cotton , Fatal Gun Shots on Broadway, Death in a Red Jaguar) and Edgar Wallace Krimis (The Fellowship of the Frog , The Invisible Claws of Dr. Mabuse, The forger of London) . Rating : 6.5/10 . Decently epic movie . Worthwhile watching.

This ¨Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy¨ (United States title) or ¨Siegfried¨ had a second part , shot back to back : ¨Die Nibelungen, Teil 2 - Kriemhilds Rache¨ or ¨Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy 2¨ (1967) in which Atila/Herbert Lom is a principal movie character , when he invaded Germany and Galic (France) but was defeated by Aecio in Catalaunicos Fields (452 a.d.) , he suddenly died in the wedding night ; meantime , Brunilda dies and Krimilda will give birth a child and she is married to Atila , King of Huns . Her brothers are invited by Atila to his luxurious palace where'll be developed an epic final battle. It's recently discovered a treasure near from Haelsinburg (Sweden) that's called the Atila gold and it can be the legendary Nibelungos treasure . Addding an Italian retelling : ¨Sigfrido¨ (1957) by Giacomo Gentilomo with Sebastian Fischer , Ilaria Occhini , Rolf Tasna, Katharina Mayberg . And including an erotic softcore rendition ¨The Terrible Swift Sword of Siegfried¨ by Adrian Hoven, David F. Friedman with Raimund Harmstorf , Sybil Danning . There is an acceptable modern adaptation for television ¨Ring of the Nibelungs¨ (2004) by Uli Edel with Benno Furmann , Alicia Witt , Kristana Loken , Julian Sands . A comedic parody of the famous German Nibelungen-Sage titled ¨Sigfried¨ (2005) by Sven Unterwaldt Jr with Tom Gerhardt, Dorkas Kiefer, Volker Büdts . And , of course, the classic silent version (1924) in two parts : ¨Die Nibelungen: Siegfried¨ and ¨Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache¨ , being perfectly directed by Fritz Lang and it is the best considered . Rating : Good , Well worth seeing.

Terrific German medieval tale, legend, as also was King Arthur and the Round Table tales shown by the UK film and Hollywood industry. Terrific production design and acting, settings and story telling, amazing music score. I never get tired of watching this movie, the first opus of a two movies saga; I have already commented the second movie ten years ago. Many characters, but it's rather simple to follow, tense, riveting, rough. The legend of Siegfried and the Nibelungen treasure. Of course it is different from the Fritz Lang's masterpiece but still a film that you can't avoid. And a rare film to purchase. I was lucky enough to have caught it thirty years ago, on a movie program attended by a movie lover - Jean Pierre Dionnet - who, at this time, made the greatest efforts to find very, very rare stuff. Thanks to him. Eternally.

This movie is really great! Great directing, photography (just watch the scenes in Iceland), sets, score (get the double-cd release of the scores for both films on Cobra Records if you are fond of this score), acting (I can't take my eyes of Karin Dor as Brünhild...) and script (I love the way they changed the story to address some of the ambiguities of the material, like the reason why Siegfried and Brünhild already know each other, but still retain the feeling of the original Nibelungenlied) make this movie together with it's second part "Kriemhilds Rache" a masterpiece. But avoid the version that cut together the two parts "Siegfried" and "Kriemhilds Rache" to "Das Schwert der Nibelungen" aka "Those who carry the seed of destruction" (or something like that), it really doesn't show this masterpiece in all it's glory, and might give you the wrong ideas about this two movies. These are two movies just screaming for a DVD release!