The Blue Light (1932) User Reviews

Gorgeously shot, leisurely paced.

[David-240 · 8/10 · 5 July 1999]

Leni Riefenstahl, soon to become notorious as Hitler's favorite director, made her directorial debut with this vivid and beautiful film. It tells the tale of a mysterious blue light on top of a mountain that lures young men to their deaths. The only person who can reach it is a young outcast played by Riefenstahl herself. She is exquisitely beautiful - so much so that I am amazed Hollywood did not beckon.

It's all a bit Freudian and far too slow at times, but the photography is so sublime that it doesn't matter. Black and White has seldom looked so beautiful and the use of light is magnificent. Riefenstahl certainly knew how to film and light faces (including her own), a talent that would later enhance her propaganda films for the Nazis. This film is more than an historical curiosity - it is quite a work of art.

Sensual, atmospheric, mysterious.

[Ben_Cheshire · 7/10 · 27 March 2004]

Leni Riefenstahl's directorial debut (she had been a widely recognised and praised dancer in the 20's and gone on to be one of the most well known silent movie stars, working with Arnold Fanck and G W Pabst on a series of mountain films). Here she shows that magnificent eye exciting visuals probably attainted while shooting up in the mountains with Fanck, and which would go on to make Triumph of the Will the most stunning, famous propaganda film of all time, and Olympia, her film of the 1936 Berlin Olympics the single most famous (and incredible visually) sports documentary of all time.

In The Blue Light you will find some of the most stunning visuals in early sound cinema, a gorgeous score and the magnetic, sensual screen presence of Leni herself in the lead role of Junta, the outcast who lives among the crystals in a mountain high above a fairytale village. It is a delight to watch, and one of the great treasures of early sound cinema, in my opinion (though the best things in it have more in common with the dancelike visual grace of the silent screen, than the stagey, wordy early talkies from Hollywood).

A tragic modern fable.

[awalter1 · 8/10 · 8 June 2001]

`The Blue Light' tells the story of a small mining village lying in the shadow of an unusual mountain. During every full moon a blue light issues from the peak, causing young men in the village to take leave of their senses and attempt to climb the mountain in the middle of the night. This always ends in death for one of the village men.

Junta, a young woman who lives in the hills outside the village, is the only person who has mastered the cliffs, and because of this she is an outcast. One day a stranger arrives in the village, and this man becomes entranced not with the blue light but with Junta. Eventually, he follows her up the peak and discovers the mountain's mystery, which Junta has so far kept to herself. Unlike Junta, though, the stranger cannot keep a secret. A minor catastrophe ensues, signaling simultaneously the doom of Junta and of the modern imagination.

It seems uncomfortably ironic that the film was both directed by and stars--as Junta--Leni Riefenstahl, the woman who would later become known as `Hitler's filmmaker,' responsible for some of the most notorious Nazi propaganda films. Nevertheless, `The Blue Light' remains a remarkable achievement for its operatic tone and imagery and for the brilliant mountain climbing sequences. Junta's final scene is especially striking, ending in a sequence which blends compelling symbolism with poetic cinematography--a moment worthy of Jean Cocteau.

In his autobiography, author Robert Aickman noted `The Blue Light' as his favorite film. He called it a `fable of the post-machine world and of the nature of love.' Elsewhere Aickman wrote: `Dr. Freud established that only a small part, perhaps one-tenth, of the human mental and emotional organisation is conscious. Our main response to this discovery has been to reject the nine-tenths unconscious more completely and more systematically than before.' Junta is one of those rare figures who is in tune with the enigmatic blue light of the unconscious self and open, as well, to that vital emotional reaction to natural beauty. It is this that makes Junta worth more than a hundred villages filled with greedy mountain-tamers. Perhaps it is no great mystery that a German film like `The Blue Light' should be made as Hitler gained power; insightful expressions of the human soul have always erupted in the most unlikely of times and with the dream thieves following close behind.

Visually stunning mountain film!!!

[Lars-65 · 7/10 · 11 April 2001]

`Das blaue Licht' (The Blue Light) tells the legend of Junta, a strange woman living in the Alpine heights above a Tyrolean village, who has privileged access to a cave of crystals. On full-moon nights a blue light emanates from this secret grotto, luring young men from the valley to seek out the force of the radiant beam. Their quest invariably end in death and causes the towns-people to vilify junta. A painter from Vienna, Vigo, befriends the outcast woman. He becomes her protector and falls in love with her. Following her one blue-lit night, he discovers the way to the cave. He draws a map, thinking that the safe passage to the grotto will serve the best interest of both Junta and the villagers. The towns-people arm themselves with tools and climb to the cave, plundering the valuable crystals and celebrating their new found fortune.

Riefenstahl's film -(fantasy) sanctifies nature and reflects a fascination with beauty and harmony. The photography of this picture is visually stunning, and Riefenstahl's masculine beauty and physical abilities make her the perfect choice for the role of Junta. `Das blaue Licht' is one of the last great Weimar films and a ‘must see' not only for movie buffs.

Dancer of Light

[tedg · 13 September 2007]

Anyone interested in film will find their way here, but I am supposing you need to steel yourself.

You may come because you know what this woman invented in terms of composition of the interframe. I place her above Eisenstein for both effect and importance.

You may come because you are interested in how film can actually change instead of merely reflect the world. It can, it does.

Or you may simply come because you are fascinated by the woman, a dancer, celebrant of the body, an Arian ideal, sexually active for 75 years including with top Nazis. Shunned by the film world, and finding a new challenge in underwater photography.

But when you come, you will confront a strange form of narrative, the spiritual metaphor, the Goethe model with blunt, plain cosmology. Its that used by Nazis extremely effectively and now appropriated by similar zealots. Extreme differentiation between good and evil: good fundamentally linked to spiritual forces which we do not deserve. Only severe dedication can allow us to deserve to adore it. Its all rather curious how superstitious structures can be sold, and you'll have to slog through it. And with some extraordinarily blunt acting.

("Sir Arne's Treasure" of a dozen years earlier did all these things with natural skill, and they work.)

But what you will get is some astonishing composition, even in this her very first film as director. A striking location that is almost unbelievable, but the most striking thing is her in the local. Every time she is set in the mountain, it is done with such lightness that we cannot avoid feeling visited by the supernatural. You have to see her climbing a vertical wall with bare hands and moccasins, thousands of feet up. You have to see her scrambling like a sprite around the bottom of the waterfall. You even have to see her present a sort of holy pulchritude while sleeping. This alone impresses once it settles that everything you see of her was designed by her. It weaves a fascination for a transcendent earth and womb that's genuine.

So my visit with this was a matter of awe at what a person can do, but I have that from elsewhere. More, it was accompanied by a parallel awe at the pull of the story, the story that I know ends badly and possibly always will, but we follow it.

I suppose that a slight, a very slight adjustment in this woman's makeup would have made a profound difference for several billions of people, and I further suppose that had she been trained slightly differently in dance that adjustment, that introspection would have been implanted. So if we had that fabled, magical time machine and wanted to go back in time to prevent the holocaust, perhaps killing Hitler isn't the right touchstone. It may be spending an evening in deep conversation with the man who loves the woman who taught Leni's dance teacher. Yes, that would do it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Das blaue Licht - A magical story beautifully filmed

[BSKIMDB · 6/10 · 11 February 2023]

A silent & early sonorized movie from 1932, where Leni Riefenstahl is actress, screenwriter and director. The movie has a rare beauty that lingers through the years. The plot is a fairy-tale one : a young and lonely girl mistaken by her neighbours for a witch is genuinely fascinated by the mysterious blue light emerging from the magic mountain; she meets and befriends a mountaineer equally interested in the secret, but for quite different reasons, and so the drama begins. The story is in fact the collision between the maiden's free soul and civilisation, which seems to specially appeal Riefenstahl's independent spirit. It is better that each one makes an opinion as one pleases after watching this visually beautiful movie. Based upon Gustav Renker's "Bergkristall" (The Glass Mountain). A sportive Leni climbs the ridges by herself.

Simple and sweet

[Yxklyx · 9/10 · 12 September 2006]

First off, I'd like to point out that the silent and "sound" versions are the same movie (same images from start to end), except that the intertitles have been removed from the "sound" version and voices dubbed in (sorta like what they did with Chaplin's The Gold Rush in 1942, except that here the conversion works fine instead of being hellishly awful). The "sound" version has little background sound being mainly voices here and there - and there is little speaking anyway. More importantly though, on the DVD I rented, the picture quality of the silent version was atrocious while that of the "sound" version pristine. All that said this is a very simple and sweet fable, aspects of which reminded me of Picnic at Hanging Rock as well as some of Gus van Sant's latest movies. One of the best films from the early 30s.

The Blue Light - Another Riefenstahl Gem

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 4 February 2022]

Leni Riefenstahl was an exceptionally gifted actress and even more gifted director. Her extraordinary mastery of cinematography and instincts for angle shots, shadows, and frame composition have never been matched in German cinematic history. Even the great Fassbinder, Wertmueller, and Herzog have seldom filmed scenes as breathtaking as Riefenstahl. Her documentaries were the best ever made; not just one, but two masterpieces. How unfortunate she was politically identified with the Nazi Party, although not a Nazi. She was not completely innocent or guilty of Nazi propaganda aims, but was somewhere in the middle; a person stuck in a time and place that utilized her substantial skills. The Blue Light illustrates some of those skills, with absolutely no allusions to Nazi propaganda. If there were any parallels to be drawn to Nazi Germany in this film, she would have represented the outcasts and persecuted, not the oppressors. Let us try to be fair when we judge the actions and career of Leni Riefenstahl.

scathing dissertation of modern life and its disregard for nature

[retributionpublications · 10/10 · 18 January 2002]

WARNING.....SLIGHT SPOILER!!!!

Leni Riefenstahl is fantastic in this film, which she directed, wrote, and starred in. This movie is generally considered to be a German 'mountain film', to which Refenstahl generally takes a great deal of influence from, though it came out significantly later than most of the films from that genre, such as `The White Hell of Piz Palu' (Die Weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü) or `Storm Over Mont Blanc' (Stürme über dem Mont Blanc) both of which Riefenstahl herself starred in.

This is a movie about nature and modern man's disrespect for it. Vigo, an urban citizen who comes to a village in the mountains, meets Junta (Riefenstahl), an outcast believed by most of the villagers to be a witch. Vigo discovers that Junta is the only person known to have climbed the mountain to the cave where a 'blue light' shines on every full moon. The light, which is believed by the villagers to hypnotize young men, is blamed for the countless deaths of the villagers who attempt to climb the mountain only to fall to their deaths. When Vigo discovers Junta and followers her to the cave, he realizes that the 'light' comes from millions of valuable jewels that lie in the walls of the mountain. Although by this point Vigo has formed a romantic relationship with Junta, instead of keeping the jewels a secret and thus, sacred (as Junta does) he decides to tell the villagers, who rape the mountain of its riches and become wealthy. The outcast Junta gets nothing, and is devastated because the light which once glimmered from the mountain is now gone.

Vito is constantly portrayed as a `Goethe type' - the 19th century archetype intellectual, and we know that he is used to symbolize the higher echelon of German society. Junta, however, is an outcast and a social misfit. She is filmed much like an animal of sorts...wearing rags, hunched over, and constantly running from villagers who want to stone her to death. When Junta and Vito get together, it becomes obviously unnatural and awkward. The fact that Junta and Vito also do not speak the same language is paramount to the notion that communication between nature and high society does not exist. In the end, he uses her knowledge, and chooses financial wealth over love. This is a message (albeit a depressing one) to modern civilization everywhere, delivered with expressionistic flair and a filmatic brilliance that won't be found anywhere else.

Nice imagery and themes, disappointingly meager substance

[I_Ailurophile · 6/10 · 23 September 2021]

Outstanding filming locations present us with a picturesque village and beautiful natural scenery - the perfect setting for a take on a fairy tale. A pervasive emphasis on thematic content emphasizes that slant, with notions conveyed of superstition run amok, the provincialism of convention, the scapegoating of nonconformists, and good intentions ill-considered. What's regrettably noteworthy is that these big ideas carry the feature more than the narrative does. 'The blue light' is enjoyable, but its bare simplicity limits our engagement.

In a runtime of 86 minutes, an entire hour passes by with scarcely more plot development than what the most basic premise portends: "When the moon is full, young men die attempting to reach the blue light in the mountains." Introduce two main characters into that framework (played by director Leni Riefenstahl herself and co-star Mathias Wieman), the realization of the suggested themes - and just like that, the movie has come to a close.

It's worth considering that in that rudimentary construction, 'The blue light' aptly echoes most fairy tales, which at their core stress a scant few particular story beats, generally alongside some moral or otherwise wisdom to impart. Still, while we're passably entertained here, it's hard not to feel bereft to some extent. Everything looks quite pretty, yes, but then what? I can appreciate technical considerations on the face of it, though nearly 90 years removed from the same context and with nothing especially leaping out, one inherently takes such things for granted whether they wish it or not. I think Riefenstahl is a fine actress, as she demonstrated as well in 'The white hell of Pitz Palu,' and I have no particular reason to doubt Wieman either - yet thin narrative also means a dearth of material with which they could exhibit their craft here.

Like the film itself, there's just not much more to say. The end result, in my mind, is a feature that's visually pleasing, but just lacks a great deal of substance. It's unfortunate for many reasons. 'The blue light' is certainly not outright bad, and it's a fair way to pass one's time. I had just hoped for something more completely grabbing and satisfying, and that's distinctly not what I got.

Modestly worthwhile if you come across it, but don't go out of your way.

Badly in need of color

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 December 2015]

"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.

Enchanting! But beware of the silent version!

[pan-10 · 10/10 · 9 September 2003]

Enchanting! But beware of the silent version!

This film was made in a sound and a silent version, as there were some theaters at the time that were still not equipped for sound. Unfortunately, it is the silent version that is being widely sold. This version is vastly inferior. The sound version is a hauntingly beautiful film. I have a sound version, but it is of poor quality and many subtitles are difficult to read. This film should be remastered. There are superb quality short excerpts from the film in The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl.

Leni Riefenstahl passed away yesterday at the age of 101. She died in her sleep. At the age of 100, she was still scuba diving!

She may have been the greatest motion picture director of all time, but she was forbidden from making motion pictures for over half a century, an incalculable loss to the art of film. I hope that they issue restored versions of her movies now, particularly my favorite, "The Blue Light", a fairy tale set in the Alps, a movie that she - a young girl then - wrote, directed, and starred in!

Note: I previously posted part of this commentary a couple of years ago (see below), but it was posted as "Anonymous" for some reason.

Riefenstahl stars in and directs this artsy film

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 29 December 2010]

This is an interesting film in that a sound version (in German with English subtitles) and a silent version on the same disk. Now this might seem weird today, but in the late 1920s and early 30s, many theaters were still not equipped for sound and studios made two parallel versions—one sound and one silent. I've seen this before with some other DVD releases and it's very nice that both versions were included. However, like so many of the films that were made in sound and silent versions, the sound version has mostly the same scenes with only a few sound scenes inserted—so it really plays much like the silent version—especially since the sound system they used seemed primitive and the sound seemed like it was tacked on later.

The film stars the infamous Leni Riefenstahl—a woman far more famous the documentaries she directed than for the earlier films in which she starred. This is one of her earlier films when she was seen as one of Germany's preeminent actresses—and a woman whose speciality were films involving mountain climbing! I've seen about a dozen of her films and nearly ALL of them have mountains in them—and often lots and lots of ice and snow! It's an odd sort of genre but somehow Riefenstahl made it her own! Like these other films, the actress risks her life climbing about in the Alps (much of it barefooted or in sandals) and you have to respect her willingness to go all-out for this film.

Riefenstahl plays Junta—a strange woman who loves climbing about in the moonlight—a task the men and boys of the alpine village cannot do. When they try, they fall to their deaths—and soon people of the town begin to talk about Junta as if she's bewitched or in league with the Devil. It doesn't help her case any that Junta is a weirdo and behaves in a rather eccentric manner. Later, when an outsider becomes fascinated with her and follows her on one of her mountain treks he learns a secret…a secret that will ultimately destroy the woman he has come to love.

This film is clearly not an ordinary film. The plot is rather strange and fantastic—like a modern fairytale. The cinematography is luminous and quite beautiful (and almost like Ansel Adams pictures come to life). And, combined with the music, it's more a piece of art than a traditional film for mass consumption. If you can watch it and appreciate it on this level, then you'll no doubt enjoy this movie. If you aren't, then it will be very tough going—mostly because it is so strange and because it does not have a particularly conventional narrative.

By the way, if you get a chance, see the amazing and very long documentary on Riefenstahl ("The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl"). It not only talks about this film at length but gives you a lot of facts that will help you admire AND dislike this highly unusual woman—and put it all in context.

Emptiness in full bloom

[chaos-rampant · 18 October 2011]

Film at its purest form for me is a space of contemplation. Being a reflection of light and shadow it can never be the real thing of course, it is merely the mirror that holds the image - which is contrary to a lot of the myth that we have glorified around cinema as the thing in itself. A lot of those images reach our eyes randomly reflected, haphazardly, or the mirror is pointed without care. It's a pain in the ass to watch these, because you know the filmmaker doesn't mean what he sees.

But sometimes, in capable hands, they reflect truly: meaning of course not that they portray the world truly, as it truly is, if we could ever get two people in the same room to agree on their experience of that room, but exactly by dint of being reflections cast from lights inside, and so like a dream is always true even as it is essentially unreal, or like the old tribal ceremonies around the world were from an outside perspective merely the primitive imitation of a scene from familiar life, but from inside the dance allowed the participant, exactly by the token of his willing submission in the shared soul, to sink himself in the level behind the familiar narrative and there purify himself with just the images; in just the same way film can penetrate beneath the dream or ceremony, by substituting for it, and purify with a glimpse of how images, life itself, are stirred into being.

It is a real joy to be able to watch these films; what they offer is akin to the experience of ecstacy, introspection from outside the self. But first we have to invest ourselves in them, and the film needs to operate from the center. What we get in turn is not just the image, this is important, but an image we understand is being mirrored, this is the perspective we're missing in real life. So not an aesthetic, but a way of seeing.

Look here. The story revolves around a small village at the foot of a mountain. Every fullmoon mysterious lights glint from the top and the men climb the rock to discover. Every time they fall from it - and are symbolically embodied inside the rock as small statues. But there's a woman in all this, an outcast, a pariah exactly because she can freely venture where they can't, who knows the secret pathway.

The mystery is of course simple, as the man who climbs her soul to discover in turn comes to know; crystals that reflect that same moonlight seen from below.

So the source of so much allure and sacrifice was merely the reflected light from the real thing that was plainly visible above their heads the whole time; and which they shied away from in fear as an evil portent of their own impotence and disaster. Oh, eventually they're allowed to get their hands on the coveted treasure, which now as well as before reflects truly upon them.

But the woman, Leni Riefenstahl, casts a longer shadow in all of this, whose soul the treasure is snatched from to satisfy the social good. She illuminates deeper for this - twice herself in the film, as both actress and filmmaker - because we know now that she was surrounding herself with real darkness at the time. Of course it was never a social good her treasures gave voice to, but rather something that just had to be deemed so because society collectively pulled that way.

Too many words. You just have to see how she arrays herself in this. Her face when she discovers the crystals plucked from her cave, a mask of so much anguish and heartbreak, and then imagine how many real nights she must have spent huddled behind that mask for the rest of her life following WWII.

Of course for her, the character, it was always the beauty of the thing that stirred the heart. But not a beauty such as you appreciate in an art gallery or read from a book. Beauty that makes the body stir from sleep and by some intuitive pull is drawn to climb the steep rock - and the discovery of the path, no doubt, was also intuitive - for a fleeting glimpse of what?

But of course emptiness in full bloom. Wonderful bloom.

I suggest you see this with the sound muted - it's poorly integrated inside the film - and music of your choice like you would watch a silent. It's a magical film of interior landscapes.

Riefenstahl's Directing Talents Draws the Notice of Germany's New Leader

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 6 November 2022]

German actress Leni Riefenstahl appeared in a number of bergfilme, a genre known as mountain films. Her work with mountaineer director Arnold Fanck inspired her to direct her own film, March 1932's "The Blue Light." Riefenstahl's directorial debut shows the stunning mountains of Switzerland and Northern Italy while she created a fantasy world of mystery and breathtaking beauty within the typography.

"The Blue Light" was one of only two dramatic films Riefenstahl directed. Her name is familiar for students of cinematic history. The new leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler, appreciated Leni's ability to capture wide images of breathtaking landscape, and felt she had the talent to document on the screen his new government's popularity with the German people. The dictator approached Riefenstahl and proposed her to handle a documentary he was planning in his head. The end result was one of cinema's most famous propaganda documentaries in movie history, 1935's "Triumph of the Will." According to one modern-day reviewer, "The Blue Light" had all the earmarks of what Hitler's National Socialism government loved: the worship of Nature, the mystical union with the landscape, pagan pantheism, and the old-age custom of villagers' organic link with the land. Riefenstahl's love of nature is seen throughout her work, highlighted by "The Blue Light. " The natural elements portrayed in the movie predates her later passion for the Greenpeace movement she joined after World War Two. In "The Blue Light," she plays Junta, a young woman who lives in the mountains and has been, according to villagers, responsible for several young men's disappearances in pursuit of her in the deadly terrain. Junta has an affinity with a pile of magic crystals. When a visitor to the village, Vigo (Mathias Wieman), spots her, he falls in love. As time goes by, the two become close. While he's in the mountains he spies upon her with the crystals, where she's having a wee-old time. He sees an opportunity to cash in on those valuable crystal for her material good.

Riefenstahl's directorial debut met with a moderate return to her investment and earned the praise of many reviewers. "It's one of the most pictorially beautiful films of the year," wrote the film critic for The New York Sun. The New York Times was equally effusive in loving the movie. "A summary of the story gives no adequate idea of the beauty of the action and the remarkable camera work, especially in connection with the light effects," described its author.

Riefenstahl claims she received offers from Hollywood after a few studio executives saw her film. But she opted to stay in German to be with her boyfriend, not expecting the offer by the new German leader would change her life in unexpected ways.

Enchanting! But beware of the silent version!

[pan-10 · 10/10 · 30 June 1999]

This film was made in a sound and a silent version, as there were some theaters at the time that were still not equipped for sound. Unfortunately, it is the silent version that is being widely sold. This version is vastly inferior. The sound version is a hauntingly beautiful film. I have a sound version, but it is of poor quality and many subtitles are difficult to read. This film should be remastered. There are superb quality short excerpts from the film in The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl.

Stunning film and a tribute to a great lady.

[tophoca · 16 December 2003]

Unlike the previous reviewer, I have an excellent print of "The Blue Light" that Leni Riefenstahl sent to me a few years ago. This is truly a magnificent film and along with "Tiefland" should be for what this great lady is remembered for. "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia" are stunning documentaries but "The Blue Light" and "Tiefland" are outstanding movies and a tribute to the greatest female film director ever.

A non documentary by Riefenstahl

[frankde-jong · 8/10 · 29 September 2020]

In the 20's of the last century Arnold Fanck made a lot of "mountain films". In this films the emphasis was on the beauty of nature (mostly of the Alps) and not on the story line. Leni Riefenstahl was actress in his most famous films (such as "The hell of Pitz Palu" (1929)). Riefenstahl was not staisfied with the semi documentary character of this films, and in her debut as director she combined the beauty of the Alps (filmed by Fanck's cinematographer Hans Schneeberger) with a story line. Despite her dissatisfaction with the movies of Fanck, later in her career Riefenstahl would mainly make documentaries herself (commissioned by Nazi Germany).

At the beginning of the film there is a scene with a carriage and his silent driver that is clearly inspired by "Nosferatu" (1922, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau). Is "The blue light" a horror movie? No it is not. In the end it is more like a fantasy movie. Junta (Leni Riefenstahl), the main character, is not a vampier at all but a simple and pure girl representing nature. With the young boy Guzzi she lives in a small paradise like idyll. This idyll is destroyed by the greed of the citizens of the village in the valley. Nowadays the film could easily be interpreted in an ecological way (nature exhausted by human greed) but I don't think this is the interpretation that Riefenstahl had in mind.

Apart from fantasy, in some scenes the film has an unmistakeable erotic flavour. For the young men in the village Junta is a sort of siren. She herself lures the man of her choice with an apple in a scene with a definite Biblical connotation.

Stunningly photographed

[Philipp_Flersheim · 8/10 · 27 November 2022]

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.

Young men lured to their death

[Bernie4444 · 10/10 · 22 February 2024]

This is a story of love and trust and mistrust written by Leni Riefenstahl. You see the results of exploitation. The situation can be related to today.

When the moon is full at night one can see a mysterious blue light coming from the mountains. For some reason, this holds a fascination for the young men of the town and if they are not watched carefully, they will peruse the light. No matter how skilled they are destined to fall to their doom in this pursuit.

There is an outcast girl Junta (Leni Riefenstahl) who knows the secret of the blue light. She is followed to its source and you will have to watch the film to find out what happens.

sensuous, illuminating, prophetic

[RResende · 8 May 2009]

How astonishing can it be to see how a fictional story can metaphorically translate the life of someone? Even more when it is that very person the one who invents the story of her destiny? This film has to be the answer.

Here we have a genius of composition and visual rhythm, in her first attempt, which guesses everything that would come.

What would this goddess (in several meanings) be thinking, when she embraced this adventure? Lenni was a student of the human body, and therefore, of her own. Student of the Hellenic harmonic dynamics, who understood the power of movement, applied to cinema. She understood it so well she would pay for her whole life for that. In this film she is, simultaneously, observer and observed object. She, the body, is one of the reasons for this film to be. At the same time, we have a story about a "special" woman. She is special because she has access to a secret, she knows a path. That secret has a geographical identity, there is a division between sacred and mundane, mountain and city. The preciousness, surrounded by an aura of inaccessibility, to reach it is a privilege of beauty, of commitment and in the end, of love. And Lenni is at the centre of that sacredness, and there at the moment when it breaks. And she is doomed to be rejected forever for keeping such a secret. That's Junta, as it is Lenni. That's the prophecy, this story, written by Riefenstahl, which is a story even inside the film, a book with her photo on the cover!

This woman changed more than the history of cinema, she did more than to enlarge the possibilities of visual contemplation and, consequently, beauty concepts. In her coursed work (coursed because it is good!) she helped to change the face of the world, having her as the ambiguous element, always. In this film we have her, linking the sacred mountain and the city, linking two worlds. Now check the geography of the place. The mountain, the power of its various sequences, the strength of that geographical object. The woman, climbing the mountain, the power of contrast. Junta, under the effect of the full moon, exhales sensuality, which works still today (when we are totally addicted to images that aim at sensuality). It works because it's genuine, a woman who is more that it seems. Note how the sweater reveals the shoulder, a provocation no doubt, a desire to place the body at the centre, and to enhance Man in relation with Nature.

In this metaphorical mythology, Germanic and Nordic, see how the symbols are materialized, and shot. The composition of the shots of mountain climbing and specially, of Vigo getting into the sacred crystal area is genius, the set of a potential Valhala, and the expression of Junta as she finds out about the intrusion reveals everything.

This film still obeys too much to the codes of silent film. I saw the sound version, but apparently there is a silent one, since in those days the transition was still being made. Anyway, the sound in this film is uncomfortably placed, and dialogue does little more than directly replace the inter titles of the silent. And the montage still doesn't exist with the supreme sense that Lenni would give it, years later, and that affects rhythm, because the work of the montage masters (Eisenstein, Kalatzov, Vertov...) totally depends on the rhythm images themselves can give, for what happens inside every shot, and for the cut between shots. That dynamic does not exist here, and the codes are dated, and i suppose they might already be dated than. But Riefenstahl is body, face, she is expression. She is movement, dynamic, rhythm. But is all that both as an observer, sensitive and visual, and as an interpreter, sensual (sexual!) and intense. That's her genius, here.

My opinion: 4/5 see this, several times.

http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

World of innocence and mystery of Leni Riefenstahl

[aleksandarsarkic · 8/10 · 20 December 2022]

Leni Riefenstahl was most known to modern world and history as a director of Nazi propaganda movies like Triumph of the Will, which are masterfully directed and crafted, but in my opinion to better known and enter the mind and soul of Leni Riefenstahl you must watch this one, The Blue Light (Das Blaue Licht). Filmed in 1932 it was definetely a movie ahead of its time. It is beautifully layered and directed, it is masterpiece of early cinema. It is very, atmospheric and mysterious and takes you into mysterious world of the young girl Junta (played by Leni Riefenstahl). Landscapes are just breathtaking, and the movie was filmed on Dolomite mountains range in Northern Italy, just the location gives the movie mysterious vibe like you are in some fantasy world. But the main thing is that this is anti materialistic world, and from this movie we can see what were the main inspirations and theme of interests of Leni Riefenstahl. Here charachter Junta is in her own world of mystery and innocence, which at the end sadly falls down when the villagers find the mysteries of Dolomite mountains and the beautiful innocent world is destroyed by human greed and desire for materialistic stuff which are in the end hollow and empty.

Light on the mountaintop

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 14 July 2020]

Films with heavy emphasis on mountaineering are not usually my thing, but there are ones that are very well done and are far more interesting than they sound. The four films Leni Riefenstahl as leading lady made with director Arnold Fanck ('The Holy Mountain', 'The Great Leap', 'The White Hell of Pitz Palu', 'Storm Over Mont Blanc') centered around this subject are variable quality-wise but have interest value. So expectations were high for Riefenstahl's directing debut, which she also stars in, 'The Blue Light'.

Those high expectations were on the most part met which made me happy. 'The Blue Light' is not quite a masterpiece, but it sure is evidence that Riefenstahl could direct like the strongest of storms and has so many brilliant things, those that are not too keen on the subject usually should find much to admire here being one of those people myself. It is not so exceptional when it comes to some of the pace and story, but from a directing and visual perspective 'The Blue Light' is masterful. So a very good film that just falls short of being the great one it was this close to being.

As said, the story is one of 'The Blue Light's' weaker points. It is very slight and at times a bit too simple and the early portions especially are very thinly plotted.

Which did make some of the pace on the sluggish side. Other than the lead character, the character writing could have been meatier.

However, everything else is exceptionally done. Will agree with everyone though that the sound version is significantly better than the rather primitive silent one. 'The Blue Light' has a score that has a nice atmosphere and isn't overused or too melodramatic while still having emotional impact. It is thoughtfully scripted too, and it was a good move to not having a lot of dialogue, which helped make the tense yet poetic atmosphere really resonate and not make one worry about over-wordiness like some early sound films did.

Even if the story isn't perfect, it does have the right amount of tension when necessary and there were also parts that came over as quite poignant. The acting is fine, with Riefenstahl typically luminous and affecting and one cares for her character's plight. She fares even better though here in the director's chair, which has a lot of stylised beauty and has a lot of confidence. This did not feel like a directorial debut, this was the quality of somebody who had been in the business for years. Even better than Riefenstahl's direction is the exceptional quality of the production values. The scenery has a lot of atmosphere and really captures the eye but the star visually is the cinemaphotography, some of the most visually gorgeous of any early sound film.

Overall, very good and almost great. 8/10

Additional Comment

[ute-4 · 27 June 1999]

Further to my previous comment, I have now purchased and watched the video and would like to say how disappointed I was to find that so much of the original film has been lost, e.g. the shot in which the moonlight catches the crystals in the cave and the blue light shines out from Monte Cristallo. Also much of the material seems to have faded. In one scene only the body and collar of Martha Mair are visible - she appears totally headless. As for the music now underlaid, I can only comment on the first few minutes which are totally unsuitable material. After that, I turned the sound down and watched in silence. What a shame.