Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Leni Riefenstahl Dies at 101

Aired September 09, 2003 - 14:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, some considered her a genius behind the camera. That's probably not debatable. Yet filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl spent much of her long career despised and reviled. Riefenstahl died Monday in her sleep at the age of 101.
CNN's Walter Rodgers reports her life was forever linked to the man who made her famous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leni Riefenstahl began her career as a dancer turned movie actress who later directed her own films. In these roles she caught Hitler's eye, and though she was not his mistress, he became her patron.

Hitler early recognized and said she was and probably still is the greatest female film director of all time. Against her will, he ordered her to make a documentary for him.

LENI RIEFENSTAHL, DIRECTOR: It was in this time, she was 34, the people are crazy, they love Hitler and it was a big enthusiastic. He tried to find (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

RODGERS: The documentary, "Triumph of Will," about the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, pioneered revolutionary techniques that are studied in University film classes and copied in Hollywood even today.

But although revolutionary, critics have since questioned her indifference to Hitler's politics. Still her proximity to Hitler makes her intriguing.

This documentary on the 1936 Olympics won her international prizes. It is still considered one of the 10 best films ever made. Her detractors alleged it glorified the ideals of Nazism.

Later, after the world discovered Hitler's evil side, Leni Riefenstahl was vilified as a Nazi propagandist. After the war, she was imprisoned by the French, but later cleared of criminal charges. Yet many Germans made her a scapegoat for their collective sins.

RIEFENSTAHL: Before the war, 90 percent were for Hitler. After the war, 90 percent don't want Hitler. They are against him. So it is was not a good feeling, because I am the only or very few people have seen the truth of this war. And for this he hit me (ph). RODGERS (on camera): The persecution Leni Riefenstahl suffered in Europe after World War II ultimately drove her to Africa, and there she experienced a creative rebirth.

RIEFENSTAHL: Nobody ask me how was Hitler, why you have make "A Triumph of the Will?" I was a newborn. I was newborn.

RODGERS (voice-over): But age 72, she took up scuba diving to make nature films.

Leni Riefenstahl's greatest disappointment was to have turned down an offer to leave Hitler's Germany to become a movie star in America.

Walter Rodgers, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 9, 2003 - 14:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, some considered her a genius behind the camera. That's probably not debatable. Yet filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl spent much of her long career despised and reviled. Riefenstahl died Monday in her sleep at the age of 101.
CNN's Walter Rodgers reports her life was forever linked to the man who made her famous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leni Riefenstahl began her career as a dancer turned movie actress who later directed her own films. In these roles she caught Hitler's eye, and though she was not his mistress, he became her patron.

Hitler early recognized and said she was and probably still is the greatest female film director of all time. Against her will, he ordered her to make a documentary for him.

LENI RIEFENSTAHL, DIRECTOR: It was in this time, she was 34, the people are crazy, they love Hitler and it was a big enthusiastic. He tried to find (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

RODGERS: The documentary, "Triumph of Will," about the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, pioneered revolutionary techniques that are studied in University film classes and copied in Hollywood even today.

But although revolutionary, critics have since questioned her indifference to Hitler's politics. Still her proximity to Hitler makes her intriguing.

This documentary on the 1936 Olympics won her international prizes. It is still considered one of the 10 best films ever made. Her detractors alleged it glorified the ideals of Nazism.

Later, after the world discovered Hitler's evil side, Leni Riefenstahl was vilified as a Nazi propagandist. After the war, she was imprisoned by the French, but later cleared of criminal charges. Yet many Germans made her a scapegoat for their collective sins.

RIEFENSTAHL: Before the war, 90 percent were for Hitler. After the war, 90 percent don't want Hitler. They are against him. So it is was not a good feeling, because I am the only or very few people have seen the truth of this war. And for this he hit me (ph). RODGERS (on camera): The persecution Leni Riefenstahl suffered in Europe after World War II ultimately drove her to Africa, and there she experienced a creative rebirth.

RIEFENSTAHL: Nobody ask me how was Hitler, why you have make "A Triumph of the Will?" I was a newborn. I was newborn.

RODGERS (voice-over): But age 72, she took up scuba diving to make nature films.

Leni Riefenstahl's greatest disappointment was to have turned down an offer to leave Hitler's Germany to become a movie star in America.

Walter Rodgers, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com