Editing Triumph of the Will (section)

==Reception==
''Triumph of the Will'' was approved by the censors on 26 March 1935, and premiered on 28 March at the Berlin Ufa Palace Theater.{{sfn|Welch|1983|pp=126}} Within two months the film had earned 815,000 [[German Reichsmark|Reichsmark]] (equivalent to {{Inflation|DE|0.815|1933}} million {{Inflation-year|DE}} euros), and Ufa considered it one of the three most profitable films of that year. Hitler praised the film as being an "incomparable glorification of the power and beauty of our Movement." For her efforts, Riefenstahl was rewarded with the German Film Prize (''Deutscher Filmpreis''), a gold medal at the 1935 [[Venice Biennale]], and the Grand Prix at the 1937 [[World Exhibition]] in [[Paris]]. However, there were few claims that the film would result in a mass influx of "converts" to [[fascism]] and the Nazis apparently did not make a serious effort to promote the film outside of Germany. Film historian Richard Taylor also said that ''Triumph of the Will'' was not generally used for propaganda purposes inside Nazi Germany. ''[[The Independent]]'' wrote in 2003: "''Triumph of the Will'' seduced many wise men and women, persuaded them to admire rather than to despise, and undoubtedly won the Nazis friends and allies all over the world."<ref name="the independent">{{cite news |first= Val|last= Williams|page=xx |title=Leni Riefenstahl |date=10 September 2003 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |department=Obituaries |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-548728.html |url-status= dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830045819/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-548728.html |archive-date=2009-08-30}}</ref>

The reception in other countries was not always as enthusiastic. British documentarian [[Paul Rotha]] called it tedious, while others were repelled by its pro-Nazi sentiments. During World War II, [[Frank Capra]] helped to create a direct response, through the film series called ''[[Why We Fight]]'', a series of newsreels commissioned by the United States government that spliced in footage from ''Triumph of the Will'', but recontextualized it so that it promoted the cause of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] instead. Capra later remarked that ''Triumph of the Will'' "fired no gun, dropped no bombs. But as a [[Psychology|psychological]] weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Capra|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Capra|title=The Name above the Title: An Autobiography|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1977|page=328|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_E09IWRomMC&pg=PA328|isbn=0-306-80771-8|access-date=6 May 2012}}</ref> Clips from ''Triumph of the Will'' were also used in an Allied propaganda short called ''[[General Adolph Takes Over]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/lambeth-walk-nazi-style-1942/ |title=Lambeth Walk – Nazi Style (1942) |publisher=The Public Domain Review |access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> set to the British dance tune "[[The Lambeth Walk]]". The legions of marching soldiers, as well as Hitler giving his Nazi salute, were made to look like wind-up dolls, dancing to the music. The Danish resistance used to take over cinemas and force the projectionist to show ''Swinging the Lambeth Walk'' (as it was also known); Erik Barrow has said: "The extraordinary risks were apparently felt justified by a moment of savage anti-Hitler ridicule."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrow |first=Erik |title=Documentary: A History of Non-fiction Films |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |location=Oxford |page=[https://archive.org/details/documentaryhisto00barn/page/151 151] |url=https://archive.org/details/documentaryhisto00barn/page/151 |isbn=0-19-507898-5 }}</ref> Also during World War II, the poet [[Dylan Thomas]] wrote a screenplay for and narrated ''These Are The Men'', a propaganda piece using ''Triumph of the Will'' footage to discredit Nazi leadership.<ref>{{cite web |title=Into Battle No. 4: These are the Men |url=https://collections.libraries.indiana.edu/IULMIA/exhibits/show/war-films-categories/item/104 |website=Indiana University Bloomington |access-date=10 September 2022}}</ref>

One of the best ways to gauge the response to ''Triumph of the Will'' was the instant and lasting international fame it gave Riefenstahl. ''[[The Economist]]'' said it "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century."<ref>{{Cite news | title=Leni Riefenstahl: Hand-held history |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=11 September 2003 | url=http://www.economist.com/node/2051630?story_id=2051630}}</ref> For a director who made eight films, only two of which received significant coverage outside of Germany, Riefenstahl had unusually high name recognition for the remainder of her life, most of it stemming from ''Triumph of the Will''. However, her career was also permanently damaged by this association. After the war, Riefenstahl was imprisoned by the Allies for four years{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} for allegedly being a Nazi sympathizer and was permanently [[blacklist]]ed by the film industry. When she died in 2003—sixty-eight years after the film's premiere—her [[obituary]] received significant coverage in many major publications, including the [[Associated Press]],<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, revered and reviled for her work, dies at 101|last=Rising|first=David|date=9 September 2003|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB106324566622718500|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Coy Propagandist of the Nazi Era|last=Petropolous|first=Jonathan|date=11 September 2003|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/obituaries/leni-riefenstahl-filmmaker-and-nazi-propagandist-dies-at-101.html|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Filmmaker and Nazi Propagandist, Dies at 101|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=9 September 2003|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> and ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/10/film.germany|title=Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's favourite film propagandist, dies at 101|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=10 September 2003|newspaper=The Guardian|author-link=Luke Harding}}</ref> most of which reaffirmed the importance of ''Triumph of the Will''.