Leni Riefenstahl filmed "Das blaue Licht" before becoming involved with the Nazis. She changed her story of how she worked on the film so often that today, it is extraordinarily difficult to cut through her web of lies and halftruths and to arrive at something that seems at least plausible. Fortunately, we have Hanno Loewy's work on 'Das Menschenbild des fanatischen Fatalisten, Oder: Leni Riefenstahl, Béla Balázs und Das Blaue Licht' (available on the server of Constance university). Three things seem beyond doubt. First, Riefenstahl's involvement in directing 'Das blaue Licht' was peripheral. The director was Béla Balázs. When the film was reissued in Nazi-Germany, Riefenstahl had him eliminated from the credits (a later re-issue in Austria in the 1950s mentioned him again, but only as an assistant). Second, in December 1933, Riefenstahl authorised Julius Streicher - the notorious antisemite and Gauleiter of Nuremberg - to deprive 'the Jew Béla Balacs' (sic!) of any income from the film he might in future claim. She must truly have been a nasty piece of work. Third, much of the cut of the film and at least part of the cinematography was done by her, and this is stunning. The way Riefenstahl photographed the Alpine scenery and the use she made of light and shadow and of mist and clouds are unsurpassed.
The plot is less exciting, though suggestive, and it evidently speaks to modern sensibilities concerned with the destruction of nature. The central element is the betrayal of a feral young girl (Junta, played by Riefenstahl, whom the villagers believe to be a witch) by a painter visiting the Alps. The painter discovers the girl's secret (a cave full of cristals that give off a blue light when the moon is full), tells the villagers about this, and they destroy the cave for material gain. The symbolism is clear: this is a kind of rape both of nature and of the girl. No wonder she falls to her death after having discovered what happened.
I am not convinced of the idea that it was the way the film depicts village life that made it attractive to the Nazis. The villagers are not upstanding Germanic types that conform to the national-socialist 'blood-and-soil' ideal; rather, they are the villains: narrow-minded and out for profit in a perfectly capitalist way. Also, the one positive figure in 'Das blaue Licht' - the girl Junta - does not even speak German but only Italian, and she is betrayed by a German. What helped Riefenstahl's career in the Third Reich was the fact that the film demonstrated her talent for cinematography. Moreover, she was good-looking in the way the Nazis approved - no wonder Hitler liked her.
The plot is less exciting, though suggestive, and it evidently speaks to modern sensibilities concerned with the destruction of nature. The central element is the betrayal of a feral young girl (Junta, played by Riefenstahl, whom the villagers believe to be a witch) by a painter visiting the Alps. The painter discovers the girl's secret (a cave full of cristals that give off a blue light when the moon is full), tells the villagers about this, and they destroy the cave for material gain. The symbolism is clear: this is a kind of rape both of nature and of the girl. No wonder she falls to her death after having discovered what happened.
I am not convinced of the idea that it was the way the film depicts village life that made it attractive to the Nazis. The villagers are not upstanding Germanic types that conform to the national-socialist 'blood-and-soil' ideal; rather, they are the villains: narrow-minded and out for profit in a perfectly capitalist way. Also, the one positive figure in 'Das blaue Licht' - the girl Junta - does not even speak German but only Italian, and she is betrayed by a German. What helped Riefenstahl's career in the Third Reich was the fact that the film demonstrated her talent for cinematography. Moreover, she was good-looking in the way the Nazis approved - no wonder Hitler liked her.