Die Nibelungen is a series of two
silentA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
fantasy filmFantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
s created by
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n director
Fritz LangFriedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
in 1924:
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge.
Both films were co-written by Lang's then-wife
Thea von HarbouThea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
, based upon the
epic poemAn epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
NibelungenliedThe Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
written around AD 1200.
Siegfried was released in the U.S. on 23 August 1925, premiering at the
Century TheatreThe Century Theatre, originally the New Theatre, was a theater located at 62nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the short-lived
PhonofilmIn 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
sound-on-film process.
Kriemhild's Revenge was released in the U.S. in 1928.
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
The title character
SiegfriedSigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, masters the art of forging a sword at the shop of Mime. Mime sends Siegfried home, but while preparing to leave, Siegfried hears the tales of the kingdom of Burgundy, the kings who rule there, as well as of Kriemhild, the princess of Burgundy. Siegfried announces he wants to win her hand in marriage, much to the amusement of the smiths. By way of physical violence, Siegfried demands to be told the way. Mime, who is envious of Siegfried's skill as a swordsmith, claims there is a shortcut through the Wood of Woden; in reality, this route will lead Siegfried away from Burgundy and expose him to attack from the magical creatures inhabiting the wood. During his journey, Siegfried discovers a
dragonA dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
, and deviates from his path to slay it. He touches its hot, yellow blood and understands the language of the birds, one of which tells him to bathe in the dragon's blood in order to become invincible to attack — except for one spot on his shoulder blade, which is missed after being covered by a falling lime leaf.
Soon after, the powerful Siegfried trespasses on the land of the Nibelungs and is attacked by
AlberichAlberich was a legendary sorcerer who originated in the mythology or epic sagas of the Frankish Merovingian Dynasty of the 5th to 8th century AD, and whose name means king of the elves , who possessed the ability to become invisible...
, King of the Dwarves. Siegfried defeats Alberich, who offers Siegfried a net of invisibility and transformation. Siegfried is not persuaded to spare Alberich's life, whereupon Alberich offers to make Siegfried "the richest king on earth!" [intertitle 1.14]. While Siegfried is mesmerized by the treasure, Alberich tries to defeat him, but dies in the attempt. Dying, Alberich curses all inheritors of the treasure and he and his dwarves turn to stone.
Siegfried finally arrives in Burgundy in his new guise of the King of twelve kingdoms. A battle breaks out between Siegfried and King Gunther and his adviser Hagen of Burgundy, which is subdued by the appearance of the beautiful princess Kriemhild. Hagen negotiates over Siegfried helping Kriemhild's brother,
King GuntherGunther is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century...
, to win the hand of Brunhild, the Queen of Iceland. The men travel to Brunhild's kingdom, where Siegfried feigns vassalage to Gunther so that he can avoid Brunhild's challenge and instead use the net's power of invisibility to help Gunther beat the powerful Queen in a threefold battle of strength. The men return to Burgundy where Gunther marries Brunhild and Siegfried weds Kriemhild.
Brunhild is not, however, completely defeated. She suspects deceit and refuses to consummate the marriage. Hagen again convinces Siegfried to help. Siegfried transforms himself into Gunther and battles Brunhild and removes her arm-ring during battle, after which she submits to his will. Siegfried leaves the real Gunther to consummate the marriage.
Kriemhild discovers Brunhild's armlet and asks Siegfried about it. Siegfried discloses the truth to Kriemhild about his role in Brunhild's defeat. When the Nibelungen treasure that Siegfried acquired from Alberich arrives at the court of Burgundy as Kriemhild's wedding gift, Brunhild becomes more suspicious about Siegfried's feigned vassalage to Gunther. Brunhild dons the Queen Mother's jewellery and proceeds to the cathedral to enter as the first person, as is her right as Queen of Burgundy. Kriemhild tries to take Brunhild's right of way and an argument erupts between the two Queens. Kriemhild betrays her husband's and brother's secret to Brunhild, who then confronts Gunther.
Brunhild demands that Siegfried must be killed, which she justifies by claiming that Siegfried stole her maidenhood [intertitle 1.94] when he struggled with her on her wedding night.
Hagen von TronjeHagen or Högni is a Burgundian warrior in tales about the Burgundian kingdom at Worms. Hagen is often identified as a brother or half-brother of King Gunther .In the Nibelungenlied, he is called Hagen of Tronje...
and King Gunther conspire to murder Siegfried during a hunt in the Odenwald. Hagen deceives Kriemhild into divulging Siegfried's weak spot by sewing a cross on the spot in Siegfried's tunic.
After the hunt, Hagen challenges Siegfried to a race to a nearby spring. When Siegfried is on his knees drinking, Hagen pierces him from behind with a spear.
In an evil twist of bitter revenge, Brunhild confesses that she lied about Siegfried stealing her maidenhood in order to avenge Gunther's deceit of her.
Kriemhild demands her family avenge her husband's death at the hands of Hagen, but her family is complicit in the murder, and so they protect Hagen. Kriemhild swears revenge against Hagen while Brunhild commits suicide at the foot of Siegfried's corpse, which has been laid in state in the cathedral.
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache
Kriemhild tries to win over the people of Burgundy to help her exact revenge against Hagen, to whom her brothers have sworn allegiance. Kriemhild bribes the people with money and treasure from the Nibelungen hoard. Margrave Ruediger of Bechlarn arrives unannounced to woo Kriemhild on behalf of his King, King Etzel, who resides in the land of the Huns. Kriemhild initially declines, but ultimately she recognises the opportunity for revenge in her marriage with Etzel and in Ruediger's allegiance to her. She forces Ruediger to swear allegiance to her on his sword. At that very moment, news arrives that Hagen has stolen her wedding gift, the Nibelungen hoard, which Hagen has, unbeknownst to all, sunk into the Rhine river.
Kriemhild travels to Etzel's lands and accepts his hand. As a gift to Kriemhild for bearing him a son, Ortlieb, Etzel grants her a wish. Kreimhild requests Etzel to invite her family to celebrate the Midsummer Solstice with them in the Hun kingdom. In the meantime, Kriemhild bribes Etzel's Hun warriors with money and treasure to avenge her and attack Hagen.
When the Burgundians arrive, the Huns launch several unsuccessful attempts. Instead, the Huns instead launch an attack on the Burgundian soldiers during their feast in the subterranean caves where the Huns reside. The Burgundian Knight Dankwart manages to escape the melee and warns the Burgundian Kings who are feasting with Etzel and Kriemhild in Etzel's palace. Upon hearing of the treacherous attack, Hagen murders Etzel's son, and battle breaks out. Dietrich of Bern manages to negotiate an exit from the hall for Etzel's royal entourage, which leaves the Burgundian guests imprisoned in Etzel's palace.
The remaining 60 minutes of the film consists of multiple battles in which the Huns launch multiple attacks on the Burgundians. Kriemhild offers her family freedom if they surrender Hagen to her. They decline. Ultimately Kriemhild calls upon Ruediger to fulfill his oath of allegiance by attacking Hagen. Ruediger refuses, but is forced to by Etzel. Ruediger and Kriemhild's two younger brothers, Gerenot and Giselher, perish in the battle. In a final act of desperation, Kriemhild commands the palace be set alight.
As the flames smoulder, only Gunther and Hagen survive. Dietrich of Bern fetches the two remaining men from the palace and delivers them to Kriemhild, who demands Hagen to reveal the hiding place of the Nibelungen hoard. When Hagen states that he has sworn not to reveal the hiding place as long as one of his kings is still alive, Kriemhild commands Gunther's beheading. When Hagen reveals that no one now knows the location of the treasure apart from him, and that he will never tell, Kriemhild grabs Siegfried's sword from Hagen and cuts him down. Infuriated by Kriemhild's act of murder, Sword Master Hildebrant stabs Kriemhild from behind.
Etzel's final words are that Kriemhild should be taken back home to her dead husband, Siegfried, because she never belonged to any other man [intertitle 2.159].
Cast
| Actor | Role |
| Paul Richter Paul Richter was an Austrian film actor. He married the actress Aud Egede-Nissen and was stepfather to Georg Richter.-Selected filmography:* The Indian Tomb * Die Nibelungen * The Sorceror...
|
SiegfriedSigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
|
| Margarete Schön Margarete Schön was a German stage and film actress whose career spanned nearly fifty years. She is possibly best recalled internationally for her role as Kriemhild in director Fritz Lang's 1924 series of two silent fantasy films Die Nibelungen - Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Nibelungen:...
|
Kriemhild |
| Hanna Ralph Hanna Ralph was a German stage and film actress whose career began on the stage and in silent film in the 1910s and continued through the early 1950s.-Career:...
|
BrunhildBrynhildr is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Norse mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhilde she appears in the Nibelungenlied and therefore also in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des...
|
| Hans Adalbert von Schlettow |
Hagen von Tronje |
| Bernhard Goetzke Bernhard Goetzke was a German film actor. He appeared in 130 films between 1917 and 1961.He was born in Danzig and died in Berlin.-Selected filmography:...
|
Volker von Alzey |
| Theodor Loos Theodor August Konrad Loos was a German actor.The son of a watchmaker and instruments manufacturer, he left secondary school prematurely and worked for three years at an export firm for music instruments in Leipzig, and after that for his uncle, an art dealer in Berlin...
|
King GuntherGunther is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century...
|
| Rudolf Klein-Rogge Friedrich Rudolf Klein-Rogge was a German film actor. Klein-Rogge is known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a main-stay in director Fritz Lang's Weimar-era films.- Biography :...
|
King Etzel |
| Rudolf Rittner Rudolf Rittner was a German actor born in Weissbach, Sudetenland, famous for playing knight and folk hero Florian Geyer in Gerhart Hauptmann's drama of the same name. The well-known German painter Lovis Corinth portrayed him in 1906. Only one year later, at the age of 38, Rittner being at the peak...
|
Markgraf Rudiger von Bechlorn |
| Georg August Koch |
Hildebrand |
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