Les Nibelungen : La Mort de Siegfried

Original title: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

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Les Nibelungen : La Mort de Siegfried (1924)

Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

6.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total

Trivia
The dragon in the film is not a miniature. It is a full-scale puppet 60 feet long.

Goofs
How does Hagen know about Siegfried's vulnerable spot where the leaf fell (and even that it was a Linden leaf)? Siegfried himself seems unaware of it at the time, though he evidently later told Kriemhild who was able to mark the spot on his cloak with a cross (Hagen had asked her to do this so that he could 'protect' Siegfried). This anomaly appears to be present in the original poem. Some prints give the woodbird an extra verse beginning 'If by chance a leaf should fall', predicting the event before it happens, but Siegfried still appears to take no notice.

Crazy credits
Karl Vollbrecht receives a credit as "Erbauer des Drachens" -- 'dragon builder'.

Alternate versions
A 2012 restoration project completed by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung has been released by Kino Lorber on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. Both "Die Nibelungen: Siegfried" (1924) and "Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge" (1925) are included. The film's running times differ from other versions at 149 minutes and 131 minutes, respectively. This can be attributed to the fact that the restoration utilized some footage from different takes of scenes and slight adjustments were made to the 'frames-per-second' rate perhaps to present a more realistic flow of the action.

Connections
Edited into Allemagne 90 neuf zéro (1991)

User reviews42

Featured review

10/10

One of the best adventure movies ever

When I saw this wonderfully exciting adventure film, it got me thinking, "Why can't people make films like this anymore?". Partly why the film makers don't make films like this anymore is that they are so occupied in having the best special effects around and don't give a hoot about the characters, story or detail (Jurassic Park, Lost World, Independence Day, Armageddon are only a small part). I would love to go and see a film that have real characters from these make-believe worlds. There are so many movies today that have Americans in a make-believe world, acting and talking like Americans, this makes me sick all over. This movie has real characters we care about in a believable world. This is partly why I love silent films so much. It is the acting and not the dialog that the viewer gets to know the character through.

This film has all the elements that makes up for a good adventure film. Very good story, exciting action, wonderful sets, beautiful photography, chillingly wonderful villains and some of the best special effects I've seen (for the time's standard). I especially love the trick photography to make Siegfried invisible and casting a shadow even though he is. I'm looking forward to watching Kriemhild's Revenge.

If you haven't seen this movie and love adventure movies, see it. It is so exciting and magical that you'll remember it always when you see a bad adventure movie, something that is normal today.