"Das blaue Licht" or "The Blue Light" is a German black-and-white film from over 80 years ago. Writer, director and lead actress is Leni Riefenstahl and this film is one of the main reasons that brought Riefenstahl the adoration of Adolf Hitler, who made her his number-1 propaganda documentary filmmaker for years to come. This one, however, was still made before the Nazi party came into power. Riefenstahl plays a woman, dishonored by society, who lives in the mountains. The men lover her though and several men go to the mountains because of her, where they die from falling in the rocky, rough landscape. However, when the main character, Junta, finally warms up to a man courting her, she is about to face the most severe form of betrayal.
The reason is that this is not only a film about love and interhuman relationships, but also about trust and a huge treasure. I must say I liked the ending here. But I am not sure if it is worth waiting for 80 minutes as most of the scenes before aren't really that great or memorable. As solid as Riefenstahl's and Béla Balázs' work behind the camera is, I am not too sure if casting the filmmaker for the main character was a good choice here. She does not have the looks for being considered some sort of femme fatale. Then again, tastes differ, and were probably especially different that long ago. This is a sound film, but there is no color yet and this fact really hurts the film as you could expect with a color being included in the title even. As a whole, I do not recommend the movie. Simply not good enough.
The reason is that this is not only a film about love and interhuman relationships, but also about trust and a huge treasure. I must say I liked the ending here. But I am not sure if it is worth waiting for 80 minutes as most of the scenes before aren't really that great or memorable. As solid as Riefenstahl's and Béla Balázs' work behind the camera is, I am not too sure if casting the filmmaker for the main character was a good choice here. She does not have the looks for being considered some sort of femme fatale. Then again, tastes differ, and were probably especially different that long ago. This is a sound film, but there is no color yet and this fact really hurts the film as you could expect with a color being included in the title even. As a whole, I do not recommend the movie. Simply not good enough.