This two-part documentary on the 1936 Berlin games, varying from straight news reportage to poetic montage on athletic grace, established several marks still unsurpassed in sports-movie history. The genius behind it is Leni Riefenstahl, better known for her Nazi propaganda piece Triumph of the Will. Out of the fierce nationalism that clouds the entire event, the individual feats and flubs of the competitors, the moviemaker's personal adoration of the body beautiful, and the technical mastery with which all this is managed, the movie elicits a phenomenal range of emotional responses. It is one of the Thirties movies to be most enriched by the passage of time: numerous images, as when the flags of WWII enemies-to-be are hoisted in unison for an awards ceremony, have since become supercharged. (1938) — Duncan Shepherd
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