well one reason might be that there isn't a great deal of sense in the troubling behavior of the "magnificent man" - the ski master and engineer Karl - a self pitying son of a gun who (when he realizes that someone has been trying to get into the pants of his clueless lady, who has been innocently leading on 2 men at once, because she is a damn fool and regards one of them as "just a child" when he is most definitely of marriage age) decides to go on a little suicidal mountaineering jaunt and insists that the delightful young Vigo accompany him, even though he has no idea that it's Vigo he saw feeling up Lady Riefenstahl. Then when he does realize he moves towards him, menacingly, so that the young buck falls backwards over the precipice. Then our "hero" strives valiantly to save the young man ("I'd never do anything to harm you!" he declares. Not very convincingly in the wake of what we've just seen.)
Karl is about as "magnificent" as one of those people who decide to commit suicide by driving into an oncoming car, their despair being worthy of taking down some totally innocent bystander in the process of doing away with themselves. While the literal cliffhanger goes on for what seems like hours, the only possible happy ending as far as I'm concerned would have been for the boy to be rescued and somehow for this bastard Karl to snuff it himself all the same. Not a very likely scenario - unless the film had been made in Hollywood! For once I wish a German film had been. :( Somehow the filmmaker finds it very noble that Karl goes ahead and goes through with his suicide even though he might have exhibited less "FAITH!" by cutting poor Vigo loose so that he might save himself and make the temptress Diotoma into some kind of respectable hoochie coochie dancer. It was so annoying Diotoma, Leni's character, is only concerned about "him" and the fate of the younger guy is just so much collateral damage...that I ended up despising her so much by the end of the film that I'm afraid I don't even remember what became of her and her Isadoraesque twirling.
I really did feel it was a kind of Nazi aesthetic/morality in which this man's "noble" love allowed him to take his little buddy with him just out of sheer megalomania on his little suicide mission into the Föhn. Very demoralizing viewing!
Anyway I came to watch this movie cause I went to a performance of Olivier Messiaen's HARAWI for soprano and piano in LA for which a film accompaniment had been commissioned from the artist Lars Jens. Bits of this movie abstracted for the purpose of Messiaen's rather absurdist/romantic lyrics managed to yield more beauty/power without question. The magnificent Lars Jens edited together footage from this film with the very different Jodorowsky version of "The Holy Mountain" and I would have to say that on a purely aesthetic level that concert was far more successful a work than either of these films watched on their own. (Although I haven't made it through all of the Jodorowsky movie yet & so shouldn't really be saying this) The Messiaen score is one of his best. Your chances of seeing this little mash-up are likely close to nil, but if you should have a chance I'd encourage you to take advantage!
Oh, it was interesting to note that this film, evidently Leni's first, had ski jumping sequences that had obviously had an influence on her "Olympia"!
Karl is about as "magnificent" as one of those people who decide to commit suicide by driving into an oncoming car, their despair being worthy of taking down some totally innocent bystander in the process of doing away with themselves. While the literal cliffhanger goes on for what seems like hours, the only possible happy ending as far as I'm concerned would have been for the boy to be rescued and somehow for this bastard Karl to snuff it himself all the same. Not a very likely scenario - unless the film had been made in Hollywood! For once I wish a German film had been. :( Somehow the filmmaker finds it very noble that Karl goes ahead and goes through with his suicide even though he might have exhibited less "FAITH!" by cutting poor Vigo loose so that he might save himself and make the temptress Diotoma into some kind of respectable hoochie coochie dancer. It was so annoying Diotoma, Leni's character, is only concerned about "him" and the fate of the younger guy is just so much collateral damage...that I ended up despising her so much by the end of the film that I'm afraid I don't even remember what became of her and her Isadoraesque twirling.
I really did feel it was a kind of Nazi aesthetic/morality in which this man's "noble" love allowed him to take his little buddy with him just out of sheer megalomania on his little suicide mission into the Föhn. Very demoralizing viewing!
Anyway I came to watch this movie cause I went to a performance of Olivier Messiaen's HARAWI for soprano and piano in LA for which a film accompaniment had been commissioned from the artist Lars Jens. Bits of this movie abstracted for the purpose of Messiaen's rather absurdist/romantic lyrics managed to yield more beauty/power without question. The magnificent Lars Jens edited together footage from this film with the very different Jodorowsky version of "The Holy Mountain" and I would have to say that on a purely aesthetic level that concert was far more successful a work than either of these films watched on their own. (Although I haven't made it through all of the Jodorowsky movie yet & so shouldn't really be saying this) The Messiaen score is one of his best. Your chances of seeing this little mash-up are likely close to nil, but if you should have a chance I'd encourage you to take advantage!
Oh, it was interesting to note that this film, evidently Leni's first, had ski jumping sequences that had obviously had an influence on her "Olympia"!