--- title: "Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations" year: 1938 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/olympia-part-one-festival-of-the-nations" fi1m_id: "olympia-part-one-festival-of-the-nations" imdb_id: "tt0030522" tmdb_id: 677 wikidata_id: "Q158069" fi1m_score: 75 critics_reviews: 1 published: "2026-09-25T02:46:25.890065+00:00" updated: "2026-09-25T02:46:41.928828+00:00" region: "SA" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938) Directed by Leni Riefenstahl · 2h 07m · Documentary ## Identity Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/olympia-part-one-festival-of-the-nations - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** olympia-part-one-festival-of-the-nations - **IMDb ID:** tt0030522 - **TMDB ID:** 677 - **Wikidata ID:** Q158069 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030522/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/677, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q158069 **Fi1m score: 75** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* There is enough to admire in the high jump without admiring the dignitaries > Leni Riefenstahl makes athletic effort absorbing, but the ceremony surrounding it demands a wary eye. This is a skilful sports documentary whose admiration for bodies and national display can become wearing as well as troubling. ## Synopsis Jack Beresford carries the British flag, while IOC official Henri de Baillet-Latour stands with Hitler. American high jumper David Albritton, Finnish 10,000 metres runner Arvo Askola and German javelin thrower Tilly Fleischer take part in the sporting programme. Donald Finlay represents Great Britain in the 110-metre hurdles, and Philip Edwards runs for Canada in the 800 metres. Each competitor aims to outperform the others within the demands of a particular event, with officials and spectators, including Wilhelm Frick, also present. The documentary brings these participants together through athletic competition and the public ceremony attached to their national identities. ## Review Leni Riefenstahl’s *Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations* is worth watching, provided an evening of sport is not all we expect from it. The film takes athletic skill seriously enough to make sustained attention rewarding. It also presents the competitors in company that makes easy admiration difficult. Jack Beresford carries the British flag; IOC official Henri de Baillet-Latour stands with Hitler. The sporting and ceremonial sides of the occasion both deserve scrutiny. The cinematography, credited to a team including Hans Ertl, Walter Frentz and Guzzi Lantschner, is the strongest reason to see it. Its attention to physical form works because these bodies have demanding things to do. David Albritton’s high jump and Arvo Askola’s 10,000 metres ask us to consider different kinds of effort. We were absorbed by the high jump: getting a body over a bar is a clear enough problem to make explanation unnecessary. The film is persuasive when it allows that skill to hold our attention. Leni Riefenstahl also edits, and the pacing is less consistently successful. At 127 minutes, the film gives its admiration more time than it needs. The emphasis on event and country can leave us wanting more sense of the people competing, particularly when the ceremonial importance begins to feel overinsistent. A sports documentary need not provide a private sorrow for every participant. Even so, more room for ordinary human awkwardness would make the reverence easier to bear. Herbert Windt and Walter Gronostay receive the music credits, and the music adds a solemnity that is sometimes oppressive. Athletic effort does not need quite so much ceremonial accompaniment to command respect. The national display has a similar effect: carrying a flag gives an individual an additional, public responsibility. That connection is there in Jack Beresford’s participation. The film seems too comfortable with the assumption that representing a country deserves reverence in itself. We felt uneasy seeing Henri de Baillet-Latour alongside Hitler, because that official company changes the meaning of the celebration. Wilhelm Frick also appears as a spectator. The athletes’ achievements remain theirs, but admiration can extend towards the occasion and the officials attending it. That needs to be considered alongside the photography. Enjoying the competition should not require us to accept everyone assembled around it as equally deserving of attention or respect. Showing a political figure does not by itself amount to approval; a documentary can scarcely pretend its guests were absent. The problem here is the film’s fondness for public grandeur, which gives those guests an impressive setting without asking anything of them. A sports documentary capable of making physical effort so absorbing could afford to be less deferential elsewhere. We recommend it to viewers interested in how sport is filmed, with time afterwards to discuss what the ceremony is doing. For uncomplicated sporting pleasure, choose something else. *Fi1m score 75, published 25 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations worth watching?** *Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations* is worth watching for its absorbing photography of athletic effort, and we score it 75 out of 100. We recommend it to viewers interested in how sport is filmed, but its 127 minutes can feel overextended, and its reverence for national ceremony demands scrutiny, particularly with Hitler among the officials. **How long is Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations, and what is it rated?** *Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations* runs 2h 07m. It is a documentary film. **Where can I watch Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations in Saudi Arabia?** *Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations* is not on any streaming or rental service in Saudi Arabia at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations compare to When We Were Kings?** *Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations* excels at observing athletic form, while [*When We Were Kings*](https://film.one/film/when-we-were-kings) gives its participants more room to speak amid boxing and political spectacle. We recommend the latter for a stronger sense of the people involved, especially Muhammad Ali, though its later interviews interrupt the footage; *Olympia* suits those more interested in the photography of physical effort. ### Reviews we read (1) - **The New York Times** (78/100, inferred): The headline suggests a favorable assessment of the film as a cinematic achievement. The blocked page does not reveal what the critic specifically praises. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/16/movies/review-film-after-50-years-on-the-defensive-still-a-cinema-master.html) ## Details - **Director:** Leni Riefenstahl - **Director:** Leni Riefenstahl - **Writer:** Leni Riefenstahl - **Cinematography:** Hans Ertl, Walter Frentz, Guzzi Lantschner, Kurt Neubert, Hans Scheib, Albert Kling, Willy Hameister, Paul Holzki, Wilfried Basse, Leo De Lafrue, Josef Dietze, E. Epkins, Hans Karl Gottschalk, Richard Groschopp, Wolf Hart, Hasso Hartnagel, Walter Hege, Werner Hundhausen, Albert Höcht, Carl Junghans, Herbert Kebelmann, Sepp Ketterer, Ernst Kunstmann, Leo de Laforgue, Lagorio, E. Lambertini, Otto Lantschner, Waldemar Lembke, Georg Lemke, C.A. Linke, Erich Nitzschmann, Albert Schattmann, Wilhelm Schmidt, H. O. Schulze, Leo Schwedler, Alfred Siegert, W. Siehm, Ernst Sorge, Károly Vass, Andor von Bàrsy, Eberhard von der Heyden, Fritz von Friedl, Heinz von Jaworsky, Hugo von Kaweczynski, Alexander von Lagorio, H. von Stwolinski, Willy Zielke - **Editor:** Leni Riefenstahl - **Music:** Herbert Windt, Walter Gronostay - **Producer:** Leni Riefenstahl - **Cast:** David Albritton as Self - High Jump, USA (uncredited); Arvo Askola as Self - 10000 Metres, Finland (uncredited); Jack Beresford as Self - Carries British Flag (uncredited); Erwin Blask as Self - Hammer Throw, Germany (uncredited); Sulo Bärlund as Self - Shot Put, Finland (uncredited); Ibolya Csák as Self - High Jump, Hungary (uncredited); Glenn Cunningham as Self (uncredited); Henri de Baillet-Latour as Self - IOC, Stands with Hitler, with Hurdlers (uncredited) - **Runtime:** 2h 07m - **First release (Germany):** 20 April 1938 - **Genres:** Documentary - **Budget:** $550,000 ## Where to watch in Saudi Arabia Not streaming, renting or buying in Saudi Arabia at the last check. Also available in: BR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Mussolini Cup 1938: Mussolini Cup (won) ## If you liked this - *Tokyo Olympiad* (1965): Another account of athletic competition, with more room for fatigue and individuality. - *A Sunday in Hell* (1976): Cycling filmed with close attention to physical effort and the conditions shaping it. - *When We Were Kings* (1996), Fi1m 83: Boxing and political spectacle, with the participants given more room to speak. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/when-we-were-kings.md) - *The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceaușescu* (2010): An extended look at political power through the footage made to celebrate it. - *This Sporting Life* (1963): A tough drama about the man who must live beyond his sporting usefulness. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. 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