Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924)
(Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 144m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Synopsis:
Furious at Hagen Tronje's treachery, Kriemhild accepts overtures for her hand on behalf of Attila the Hun, in order to gain leverage in her pursuit of vengeance. However, she does not reckon with the solidarity of her Burgundian kinsmen.
Review:
Altogether more kinetic than its predecessor, Siegfried, part two of Lang's godless Teutonic saga moves inexorably towards its own climactic holocaust. Kriemhild glowers and seethes, but not even the birth of an infant son to Klein-Rogge's Beelzebub-like Attila, can soften her resolve. Indeed, it is this that provides the motor for the drama, and which, together with the intransigence of the Burgundians, seals all their fates. Spectacularly appointed, with its blazing Hun fortress increasingly strewn with corpses, Lang's production is a monument to his logistical attention to detail. And yet we fail quite to comprehend the Burgundians' stolid loyalty to Hagen, just as we did Siegfried's own blithe connivance against Brunhild in the earlier film, and so on human terms the tragic events lack heft. Instead we must look on it as an example of Germanic barbarism and feudal codes, or as some baleful prophecy of Nazi excesses to come.
(Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 144m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Synopsis:
Furious at Hagen Tronje's treachery, Kriemhild accepts overtures for her hand on behalf of Attila the Hun, in order to gain leverage in her pursuit of vengeance. However, she does not reckon with the solidarity of her Burgundian kinsmen.
Review:
Altogether more kinetic than its predecessor, Siegfried, part two of Lang's godless Teutonic saga moves inexorably towards its own climactic holocaust. Kriemhild glowers and seethes, but not even the birth of an infant son to Klein-Rogge's Beelzebub-like Attila, can soften her resolve. Indeed, it is this that provides the motor for the drama, and which, together with the intransigence of the Burgundians, seals all their fates. Spectacularly appointed, with its blazing Hun fortress increasingly strewn with corpses, Lang's production is a monument to his logistical attention to detail. And yet we fail quite to comprehend the Burgundians' stolid loyalty to Hagen, just as we did Siegfried's own blithe connivance against Brunhild in the earlier film, and so on human terms the tragic events lack heft. Instead we must look on it as an example of Germanic barbarism and feudal codes, or as some baleful prophecy of Nazi excesses to come.
(Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge)
Country: GER
Technical: bw 144m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Margarete Schön, Theodor Loos, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Synopsis:
Furious at Hagen Tronje's treachery, Kriemhild accepts overtures for her hand on behalf of Attila the Hun, in order to gain leverage in her pursuit of vengeance. However, she does not reckon with the solidarity of her Burgundian kinsmen.
Review:
Altogether more kinetic than its predecessor, Siegfried, part two of Lang's godless Teutonic saga moves inexorably towards its own climactic holocaust. Kriemhild glowers and seethes, but not even the birth of an infant son to Klein-Rogge's Beelzebub-like Attila, can soften her resolve. Indeed, it is this that provides the motor for the drama, and which, together with the intransigence of the Burgundians, seals all their fates. Spectacularly appointed, with its blazing Hun fortress increasingly strewn with corpses, Lang's production is a monument to his logistical attention to detail. And yet we fail quite to comprehend the Burgundians' stolid loyalty to Hagen, just as we did Siegfried's own blithe connivance against Brunhild in the earlier film, and so on human terms the tragic events lack heft. Instead we must look on it as an example of Germanic barbarism and feudal codes, or as some baleful prophecy of Nazi excesses to come.