The Blue Light

By the end of the silent era, Leni Riefenstahl had become an iconic German actress for her athletic performances in the mountain-climbing films of director Arnold Fanck. So it was only natural that, when making her directorial debut, she should return to the genre which had made her famous. In The Blue Light (Das blaue Licht), she plays Junta, an eccentric mountain girl whom the villagers believe to be a witch, since she and only she can reach the peak of the deadly Monte Cristallo, atop which is a cache of luminous gemstones. She befriends a painter (Mathias Wieman) and, beneath a full moon, leads him to the forbidden grotto, not realizing the tragic repercussions of having disturbed the ethereal crystals. Working with cinematographers Hans Schneeberger and Heinz von Jaworsky, Riefenstahl created a dazzling ode to the senses, a folk tale laced with magic and overshadowed by the formidable visual impact of the Dolomites.