Sometimes I punch the SEND button impetuously and then read the message.  Once

again I should have read more carefully before sending.

 

In the message about historic films on videocassette I brief the significance

of the sub-titles without filling in between the dots.  Knowing what Hitler is

saying in the film and knowing its historical context leads me to the

inescapable conclusion that the film was NOT the work of a political naif as

Riefenstahl would have had us believe.  The film is a sophisticated political

statment designed to smooth over serious rifts within the National Democratic

Socialist Party at the beginning of their dominance of Germany.

 

Surely, it is also a very sophisticated piece of filmmaking.  But we shouldn't

let the latter obscure the former.

 

Cal Pryluck                               <PRYLUCK@TEMPLEVM>

Dept of Radio-Television-Film             <[log in to unmask]>

Temple University

Philadelphia, PA 19122