Wielandnever entirely overcomes the downside of that approach, which sidelines eachtrain of thought for considerable time. And yet, there is much of interest inher account of Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl, a pair of stars whoemerged from similar milieus at the same time and left their mark on worldcinema. The author, a German political historian, has done her research anddiligently sifted through false leads and deceptions. This is especially trueof Riefenstahl, whose work for the Nazis gave her ample reasons fordisingenuousness when the war was over.
The comparisons and contrasts provide a solid hook for a duo biography.Dietrich and Riefenstahl grew up in sometimes-fraught, middle-classcircumstances in imperial Berlin and threw themselves into the cultural fermentof the Weimar Republic. Both women were rebellious, ambitious and willing touse their sexuality in pursuit of a career. And then, after Hitler had assumedpower, Dietrich was in Hollywood and eventually became an outspoken anti-Nazi,touring USO shows to entertain the GIs. Riefenstahl made films (especiallyTriumph of the Will) that endowed Nazism with grandeur and glamor.
Wielandfound that the women lived on the same block in Berlin during the 1920s andworked for the same film studio, albeit any encounters between them were casualand in passing. Dietrich declined slowly after World War II into loneliness andalcohol, maintaining herself for as long as possible as a sophisticatednostalgia machine. Always feisty, Rienfenstahl reinvented herself severaltimes. Despite Wieland’s unwillingness to cut her any slack, Hitler’s favoritefilmmaker produced remarkable photography books on South Sudan tribes andbecame a deep-sea photographer for Greenpeace.
