From easternwindow at freenet.de Tue Mar 20 06:59:20 2007 From: easternwindow at freenet.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Thomas_K=F6hler?=) Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:59:20 +0100 Subject: [LEN-E] New Leni documentary on German TV and more References: <438047.47522.qm@web56308.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <001901c76ade$d0c1e340$4b2d3359@n6q9j8> Hi all, I have just noticed (late, but early enough) that today , March 20, German TV channel ZDF will broadcast an apparently new 45-min. documentary on Leni (at 20.15 o'clock). I don't expect much, as it's in a program called "Hitler's n?tzliche Helfer" (Hitler's useful helpers) and will likely only repeat the usual half-truths .These ZDF-documentaries are rather infamous for their shallowness , but in their description they say that there will be some interviews with people who knew her and that these are shown for the first time in some cases. So I hope at least something in it will be interesting. I'm looking much more forward to coming Sunday, where one of the German regional programmes, BR3, will show at 23.00 a silent movie documentary (made in 1936, surprisingly) entitled "Kopfj?ger von Borneo" (Headhunters of Borneo) which was made by Victor von Plessen (never heard the name) and which was photographed by Richard Angst. Richard Angst, as some may remember, was cameraman or second cameraman on films like "Piz Pal?", "St?rme ?ber dem Montblanc", "Der wei?e Rausch" , "SOS Eisberg" and other Fanck films. Together with the fact that this film was made in Borneo, I expect some fantastic nature photography along the lines of Fanck's films. I'll report back once I've seen it, but perhaps those on the list who can get German TV want to watch these two programmes anyway. Best Thomas From easternwindow at freenet.de Thu Mar 29 12:01:48 2007 From: easternwindow at freenet.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Thomas_K=F6hler?=) Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:01:48 +0200 Subject: [LEN-E] New Leni documentary on German TV and more References: <438047.47522.qm@web56308.mail.re3.yahoo.com> <001901c76ade$d0c1e340$4b2d3359@n6q9j8> Message-ID: <002e01c7721c$34f6f8c0$502d3359@n6q9j8> Hi Jose and all, sorry for this late reply, I was too busy the last days to write. So now for a run-down on these two films: the new documentary, as I expected, isn't particularly great or even important. It just follows her biography and of course focusses on the Third Reich aspects, despite there being some moments on the time before and after (including some VERY short snippets from "Wege zu Kraft und Sch?nheit" und "Das Schicksal derer zu Habsburg", but nothing that isn't already on Ron's site if I remember correctly). We get new interviews with Leni biographers Trimborn and Kinkel, Matthias Fanck, and sports journalist Harry Valerien (rather famous in Germany), but they all have little new insights. Kinkel at least is careful to give a considerate opinion of her Third Reich work. Most interesting perhaps are the interviews with cameraman Hans Ertl, who must have been in his nineties when the interviews were conducted. But he also only reminisces for the most part on Leni's relationships to Trenker and Fanck. Otherwise, as suspected, the usual highlighting of the massacre in Poland and the gypsies in "Tiefland", and very little about the aesthetic quality of the films themselves.A lot of the other material is taken from Ray M?ller's film, in addition. Much better and genuinely interesting is the Von Plessen film, "Kopfj?ger von Borneo". Victor von Plessen seems to have been a sort of wealthy amateur ethnologist, and this is his second and last film (an earlier one, made in 1933, was about Bali). The film arranges what is for the most part documentary material into the re-telling of an ancient mythical love story from Borneo, and thus we get a rather romanticized view of the life of those people , but who cares if the images are as beautiful as those shot by Richard Angst? Angst is in top form here, I'd say. Beautiful landscape photography, intense face studies, and an overall dreamy atmosphere, great scenes of the people performing ritual dances and so on. In its low-contrast photography it is reminiscent in visual style to later Fanck films like "Die Tochter des Samurai" and "Ein Robinson" , though of course the editing is far less extravagant (which reminds me that at least parts of "Ein Robinson" and even perhaps of "Das blaue Licht" might qualify for ethnographic studies). If you have seen Flaherty's "Moana" or Murnau's "Tabu": the Plessen film is somewhat similar, although it never reaches the same artistic heights in my view. But well worth seeing in any case. Best Thomas