If you are seeing this message,
then your browser is behind the times
and you may experience problems in using/viewing this site
(which won't look & work anywhere near as nice as it's supposed to).
Upgrade to a browser that supports web standards!
:-)

  Home | | A Dancer's Odyssey | | Early Films Featuring Leni | | Films Directed by Leni |
Downloads | | LEN-E Discussion List | | Resources | | Guestbook & Contact | | Credits |

Leni in Wege?

Production Stills from Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit
which may (or may not!) feature Leni Riefenstahl

Back to Main Page for Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit

Back to Leni Riefenstahl's Film Début


View larger version

Perhaps the most emphatic statement that we can find in print that Leni Riefenstahl appeared in Nicholas Kaufmann and Wilhelm Prager's 1925 film, Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit, can be discovered in the April, 1925 issue of the magazine Der Querschnitt, which shows the first production still shown here with a caption indicating "Right, Leni Riefenstahl". Although there is no other mention of Leni anywhere else in the magazine, this would currently seem to be some of the strongest evidence that Leni was indeed in this film, since, after all, it would be rather odd for them to make mention of this just as the film was premiering if it wasn't actually her.

In any case, however, presumably the writers must have actually meant the person second from right (i.e. not the semi-nude woman sitting on the front edge of the bath, whose profile doesn't really match Leni's, but the woman behind the bath and facing toward the camera). For reference, shown below is a detail from the above picture, and we can compare that woman (at the bottom middle of that detail) with another contemporary photo of Leni which was featured on the cover of the magazine Die Filmwoche.


Detail

Die Filmwoche
(issue #51: December 15, 1926)


View larger version

If the previous still does indeed feature Leni Riefenstahl, then could the somewhat similar "Roman bath" scene shown at right also include her?

Could that be Leni in the doorway?

Or is Leni the woman closer to the middle, holding up the mirror?

If the first still, above, included someone who does very much resemble Leni, this still is conversely much more vague and suspect — yet, it is still certainly possible that either of the two women pointed out here may actually be Leni (all of the other women shown are clearly not her, of course).



View larger version

This intriguing photograph of Mary Wigman's students performing a dance called Die Wanderung ("The Wandering") is the one most often said to include Leni Riefenstahl (on the ground — see detail, below). In fact, some sources have said that they have "proof" that this is Leni — however, what this evidence might be is never stated.

So is it Leni, or just wishful thinking?



Detail


View larger version

If the previous still featuring the Mary Wigman dancers includes Leni Riefenstahl, then could the still at right include her as well?

Is that Leni on the far right-hand side of the photo (hunched over and "cupping", in a way, with her arms)?


Lastly, if either or both of the previous two stills featuring the Mary Wigman dancers feature Leni Riefenstahl, then almost assuredly the still below must as well — although anyone's guess is as good as the present author's as to which dancer shown here she might be.

You Can Contribute!

To report errors or omissions,
make a suggestion, or for any
other comments related to this
page/section, please use the
Contributions & Corrections Form
(opens in new window)

Home | | A Dancer's Odyssey | | Early Films Featuring Leni | | Films Directed by Leni |
Downloads | | LEN-E Discussion List | | Resources | | Guestbook & Contact | | Credits |