Olympia Japan edition?

[Michael McCaskey]

As Aaron Gerow has already indicated, the Riefenstahl film(s) re the Olympics were twofold:
1) Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der V?lker/Festival of the Nations/Minzoku no 
saiten
2) Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Sch?nheit/Festival of Beauty/Bi no saiten
both 1938.
It happens that I have seen both the English-language and German-language versions, decades ago on reels, and more recently on DVDs, and while there may be some variations in some of the narrations in the two languages, as far as I can recall the two versions are pretty much the same visually.

But in the case of a German feature film made in Japan in 1937, Atarashiki tsuchi (1937) 
... aka The New Earth 
... aka The New Soil 
... aka Tochter des Samurai, Die (Germany)
it does seem to be the case that there was some version-splitting to suit different audiences in different markets/countries, though it seems as if variant versions did not get very far.

But it would be very interesting to find out whether Riefenstahl was willing to go along with different marketing versions of Olympia, when she was so involved in and temperamentally attached to this film - for which I believe she closely supervised all the cinematography and personally did all the editing, and she resisted any changes by anyone - no matter how highly placed.

Back in those days there were weekly newsreels, films regularly shown in just about every theater in every advanced country of the time. The Olympic newsreels shown in Japanese theaters would very likely have emphasized events with a Japanese focus. These newsreels would most likely have been made by Japanese news agencies, or Japanese subsidiaries of international news agencies. They probably would have been separate from the film Riefenstahl was shooting - but it would be very interesting indeed if it turned out that any raw Riefenstahl footage of events was used in newsreels during or soon after the Berlin Olympics. Is it possible that your sources spoke with people who had seen such newsreels?

This all raises many interesting questions. There are several experts on German-language films of the 1930s from a Japanese perspective on this list, but in this particular case it might be that Dr. Janine Hansen could have special knowledge on this subject. I believe Dr. Hansen participates in this list, and Prof. Gerow and several other experts on 1930s German-Japan documentary/propaganda/newsreel films on this list may be able to give you Dr. Hansen's email address, and also to provide additional information re documentaries and newsreels based on their own expertise as well.

Best Wishes,

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown University

----- Original Message -----
From: Hopkins/Kato <hopkat at sa2.so-net.ne.jp>
Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:59 pm
Subject: RE: Olympia Japan edition?

> What my correspondent tells me is that at the time of its initial 
> release in
> the 1930s, Olympia existed in different versions edited for each 
> market. I
> have come across a couple of academic references to this. It 
> doesn't seem
> that the version available commercially on amazon fits this 
> description. I
> would assume that the version for Japan would have emphasized 
> swimming,marathon and pole vaulting, events that Japan performed 
> well in. (Asahi
> Shinbun even released records of recreations of radio 
> announcements of some
> swimming events.)
> Unfortunately my correspondent doesn't read or speak Japanese, but 
> thanksfor the reference.
> David Hopkins
> Nara, Japan
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> [owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Aaron Gerow
> Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 10:25 PM
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: Olympia Japan edition?
> 
> I don't know if you are looking for some particular Japanese re- 
> edited version of the film, but in Japan, it seems that Olympia 
> has  
> been split into two parts on DVD: Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der V?lker/Festival of the Nations
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Sch?nheit/Festival of Beauty 
 
both 1938and Minzoku no 
> saiten.  
> Both are available on Amazon.jp
> 
> Segawa Yuji published a book on Riefenstahl in Japanese: Bi no  
> maryoku (ISBN?4-7684-7818-2). Perhaps that discusses possible  
> Japanese versions.
> 
> Aaron Gerow
> Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
> Yale University
> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
> PO Box 208363
> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
> site: www.aarongerow.com
> 
> 
> 
>