Riefenstahl, a popular German actress, had directed her first film called Das blaue Licht (The Blue Light) in 1932.[6] Hitler was impressed with Das blaue Licht, and in 1933 asked her to direct a film about the Nazis' annual Nuremberg Rally, which became Der Sieg des Glaubens (The Victory of Faith).[7] Hitler chose Riefenstahl as he wanted the film as "artistically satisfying"[8] as possible to appeal to a non-political audience, but he also believed that propaganda must admit no element of doubt.[9]
The Victory of Faith faced numerous technical problems, including a lack of preparation (Riefenstahl reported having just a few days) and Hitler's apparent unease at being filmed.[10] Though the film apparently did well at the box office, it later became a serious embarrassment to the Nazis after SA Leader Ernst Röhm, who had a prominent role in the film, was executed during the Night of the Long Knives. All references to Röhm were ordered to be erased from German history, which included the destruction of all copies of The Victory of Faith. It was considered a lost film until a copy turned up in the 1980s in the German Democratic Republic's film archives.[11]
In April 1934, Riefenstahl was commissioned by Hitler to create a successor film to The Victory of Faith.[12] Riefenstahl however, remained focused on production of her own film Tiefland (which was released only in 1954), while fellow director Walter Ruttmann worked on the party film. Ruttmann's ideals departed significantly from The Victory of Faith and sought to reorient the focus of the film onto the history of the Nazi movement rather than Hitler himself.[13] Hitler visited the studio on 6 December 1934 and permanently removed Ruttmann from the project, leaving Riefenstahl in sole control of what would become Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will).[14]
Filming
Riefenstahl and her film crew in front of Hitler's car during a parade in NurembergThe film follows a similar design to The Victory of Faith, with the city of Nuremberg scenes, even to the shot of a cat, included in the city driving sequence in both films.[15] Herbert Windt reused much of his musical score from Victory of Faith, in Triumph des Willens, which he also scored.
Riefenstahl shot Triumph of the Will on a budget of roughly 280,000 RM (approximately US$110,000 in 1934, $1.54 m in 2015).[16] Extensive preparations were facilitated by the cooperation of party members, the military, and high-ranking Nazis like Goebbels. In 1975, Susan Sontag claimed that "The Rally was planned not only as a spectacular mass meeting, but as a spectacular propaganda film."[17]
Albert Speer, Hitler's personal architect, designed the set in Nuremberg and did most of the coordination for the event. Pits were dug in front of the speakers' platform so Riefenstahl could get the camera angles she wanted, and tracks were laid so that her cameramen could get traveling shots of the crowd. When the audio from rough cuts was not up to par, major party leaders and high-ranking public officials reenacted their speeches in a studio for her.[18]
Riefenstahl shot an estimated 61 hours of footage to create the two hour film.[19]
