"Die Nibelungen: Siegfried" from over 90 years ago is the first of 2 Nibelungen film directed by Fritz Lang and written by him as well with Thea von Harbou, a truly prolific and successful duo. I will not go a lot into detail about the story as it is so extremely famous. I myself have always preferred Siegfried's story about Krimhild's revenge, the second installment, in terms of Lang and also in terms of Reinl. Lang's work here is still a silent film as usual and black-and-white of course, although you could also make a case for black and gold.
Lead actor Paul Richter will certainly be recognized by fans of German silent movies. And most of the other actors have played in many other films as well. But back to this one: It was the second or third time I watched it and it is still worth seeing. My favorite scene is definitely Siegfried's encounter with the dragon very early on. The dragon just looks superb and the falling-leaf scene is just too memorable. Unfortunately, the film is not packed with these extraordinary scenes from start to finish. Occasionally it drags, although it's almost an impossible achievement for a movie of 150 minutes to be edge-of-seat stuff from start to finish. This one does not succeed. However, it brings fairly decent entertainment value and a couple more scenes who are almost as memorable as the one with the dragon that I just mentioned. It is certainly not a film for everybody, but silent film lovers will probably have a good time with this one. Thumbs up.
Lead actor Paul Richter will certainly be recognized by fans of German silent movies. And most of the other actors have played in many other films as well. But back to this one: It was the second or third time I watched it and it is still worth seeing. My favorite scene is definitely Siegfried's encounter with the dragon very early on. The dragon just looks superb and the falling-leaf scene is just too memorable. Unfortunately, the film is not packed with these extraordinary scenes from start to finish. Occasionally it drags, although it's almost an impossible achievement for a movie of 150 minutes to be edge-of-seat stuff from start to finish. This one does not succeed. However, it brings fairly decent entertainment value and a couple more scenes who are almost as memorable as the one with the dragon that I just mentioned. It is certainly not a film for everybody, but silent film lovers will probably have a good time with this one. Thumbs up.