Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces

Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces) is the third documentary directed by Leni Riefenstahl, following Der Sieg des Glaubens and Triumph des Willens. Her third film recounts the Seventh Party Rally of the Nazi Party, which occurred in Nuremberg in 1935, and focuses on the German army.

Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht in front of audience in the film
Directed byLeni Riefenstahl
Written byLeni Riefenstahl
Produced byLeni Riefenstahl
StarringAdolf Hitler
Hermann Göring
Rudolf Hess
Heinrich Himmler
CinematographyHans Ertl
Walter Frentz
Albert Kling
Guzzi Lantschner
Kurt Neubert
Willy Zielke
Edited byLeni Riefenstahl
Music byPeter Kreuder
Production
company
Reichsparteitag-Film
Distributed byUniversum Film AG
Release date
  • 30 December 1935 (1935-12-30)
Running time
28 minutes (surviving incomplete copy)
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

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

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The film depicts a mock battle staged by German troops during the 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 the "Deutschlandlied" and a shot of German fighter biplanes flying overhead in a swastika formation.

Background

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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

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  1. ^ "The UCLA Film and Television Archive Presents: The Films of Leni Riefenstahl". germanhollywood.com. 11 February 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-02-11. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Tag der Freiheit".
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