I love the German silent period, but the films do tend to be slow-paced, which was the style at that place and time.
DIE NIBELUNGEN is much worth seeing, especially now it's been restored for Blu-Ray. Some of the special effects are remarkable for 1923 and the best scenes, like the invisible Siegfried helping the lily-livered Gunther beat Brunnhilde in an athletic contest, are marvelous.
The geometric patterns on the costumes and sets show the influence of modernism, maybe even Art Deco. It's well written, directed and cast, with maybe the one exception of Margaretha Schoen, lifeless to the point of catatonic as the princess and saddled with an ugly costume and ridiculous waist-length braids which seem to sprout from her ears. I don't blame Schoen so much as I would blame Lang, whose mechanical direction of actors could result in awkward, wooden performances, and the awful hair and costumes they gave her.
The pace really becomes a problem in the second half of SIEGRIED. As the story reaches its climax, the pace slows down almost to a dead stop, and the film dribbles on too long after the climax of Siegfried's death -- this isn't a spoiler since the actual full title of the film is SIEGFRIED'S DEATH.
Murnau's low-budget NOSFERATU, from 1922, is NOT slow, which helps make it one of the most popular German silent films. I adore Murnau but his famous THE LAST LAUGH is, if memory serves, as punishingly slow as much of this one. German silent cinema is a treasure trove of riches, but brisk pacing is generally not one of them.
DIE NIBELUNGEN is much worth seeing, especially now it's been restored for Blu-Ray. Some of the special effects are remarkable for 1923 and the best scenes, like the invisible Siegfried helping the lily-livered Gunther beat Brunnhilde in an athletic contest, are marvelous.
The geometric patterns on the costumes and sets show the influence of modernism, maybe even Art Deco. It's well written, directed and cast, with maybe the one exception of Margaretha Schoen, lifeless to the point of catatonic as the princess and saddled with an ugly costume and ridiculous waist-length braids which seem to sprout from her ears. I don't blame Schoen so much as I would blame Lang, whose mechanical direction of actors could result in awkward, wooden performances, and the awful hair and costumes they gave her.
The pace really becomes a problem in the second half of SIEGRIED. As the story reaches its climax, the pace slows down almost to a dead stop, and the film dribbles on too long after the climax of Siegfried's death -- this isn't a spoiler since the actual full title of the film is SIEGFRIED'S DEATH.
Murnau's low-budget NOSFERATU, from 1922, is NOT slow, which helps make it one of the most popular German silent films. I adore Murnau but his famous THE LAST LAUGH is, if memory serves, as punishingly slow as much of this one. German silent cinema is a treasure trove of riches, but brisk pacing is generally not one of them.