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