Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht

Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht in front of audience in the film.
Directed by	Leni Riefenstahl
Produced by	Leni Riefenstahl
Written by	Leni Riefenstahl
Starring	Adolf Hitler Hermann Göring Rudolf Hess Heinrich Himmler
Music by	Peter Kreuder
Cinematography	Hans Ertl Walter Frentz Albert Kling Guzzi Lantschner Kurt Neubert Willy Zielke
Editing by	Leni Riefenstahl
Studio	Reichsparteitag-Film
Distributed by	Universum Film AG
Release date(s)	December 30, 1935 (Berlin, Germany)
Running time	28 minutes (surviving footage)
Country	Germany
Language	German

Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (English: Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces) is the third documentary directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Her film recounts the Seventh Party Rally of the Nazi Party, which occurred in Nuremberg and focuses on the German army.

Tag der Freiheit was considered lost at the end of World War II, but an incomplete print of the film was discovered in the 1970s—the extant footage reveals Riefenstahl mainly reprising the approach she used in Triumph of the Will (1934), though certain more expressionistic sequences clearly presage the more audacious style she would adopt for Olympia (1938).^[1]

Synopsis

A warning of things to come is given in this featurette depicting a mock battle staged by German troops during the colorful ceremonies at Nuremberg on German Armed Forces Day 1935. The camera follows the soldiers from their early-morning preparations in their tent city as they march singing to the vast parade grounds where a miniature war involving infantry, cavalry, aircraft, flak guns and the first public appearance of Germany's new forbidden tank is presented before Hitler and thousands of spectators.

The film ends with a montage of Nazi flags to the tune of "Das Deutschlandlied" and a shot of German planes flying overhead in a swastika formation.

Background

When several generals in the Wehrmacht protested over the minimal army presence in Triumph of the Will, Hitler proposed his own "artistic" compromise where Triumph would open with a camera slowly tracking down a row of all the "overlooked" generals (and placate each general's ego). According to her own testimony, Riefenstahl boldly refused his suggestion and insisted on keeping artistic control over Triumph of the Will. She did agree to return to the 1935 rally and make a film exclusively about the Wehrmacht, which became Tag der Freiheit.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Leni Riefenstahl • UCLA Retrospective". The German-Hollywood Connection. http://www.germanhollywood.com/rief_retro04.html. 
2. ^ "Tag der Freiheit". http://www.new.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare4/dayoffreedom.htm. 

See also

• List of German films 1933–1945
• Nazism and cinema

External links

• Tag der Freiheit on YouTube; no English subtitles or dubbing
• Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht at the Internet Movie Database
• Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht at AllRovi
• English translation of Hitler's speech in the film