Films Starring Leni Riefenstahl

Der Grosse Sprung (1927)

Leni Riefenstahl returns in her second feature film.

English translation: The Big Jump / The Great Leap

Also released in Europe as: Gita, The Goat Girl

Again, Leni Riefenstahl is costarring with Luis Trenker and directed by Arnold Fanck. Der Grosse Sprung is something of a send up of the mountain film (Berg filme) and those who inhabit the peaks. Fanck delivers in Grosse something of a "slapstick" movie, which is so in vogue at the time.

Grosse has the sub-title "an improbable but happy story." Riefenstahl portrays Gita, goat herder and skilled mountaineer living in a small Alpine village. Gita is chased by Toni (Luis Trenker). A wealthy man named Michael (played by Hans Schneeberger, who is the project's cinematographer), comes to the area on a vacation though accidentally falls into a stream only to be rescued by Gita. The film takes an opportunity, as do most of Fanck's features, to use these simple dramatic events as the lead-in for physical exertion (mountain climbing and skiing).

A minor box office success, Riefenstahl received positive notices on her acting and seems to have made the final move away from her career as a artist of the dance stage. Released in winter 1927 with a running time of 112 minutes.

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