The Holy Mountian (1926)

The Holy Mountain is probably the best know of the German 'mountain film genera' which flourished in the late silent, early talkie years and acted as a sort of national myth, similar to the 'western films' of the United States or the 'samurai' films of the Japanese. There is not that much to the plot of The Holy Mountain, though I thought its resolution was a little unexpected, it's basically a love triangle between a dancer and two mountaineers who meet at a resort. The movie is beautiful to look at however, some really impressive shots, filmed up in the cold mountains, with the snow and everything, and this was a silent film, these cameras were not easy to move around and there is some really intricate work here, particularly in the night shoots. On a big screen I suspect this movie would really be something to see, but if you see at home I would recommend playing the audio commentary while you do, because again the plot is pretty basic and it helps to have something else to concentrate on for the sequences where the visuals are less interesting. This film is of course best know because of its female lead, a young dancer named Leni Riefenstahl, who would go to become a propaganda filmmaker for the Nazi's, before reinventing herself yet again as a photographer and dying in 2003 at the age of 101. Riefenstahl reported that her first time behind a camera was helping out with some background shots in this movie. ***