Post by g***@gmail.comPost by g***@gmail.comhttp://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2011/08/fritz-langs-die-nibelungen-1924.html
http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/DieNibelungen/
An interesting read. Mike was much interested in the comparison of the Nibelungenlied (which is Lang's source), the Ring des Nibelungen, and the history of the late Roman empire. Gunther was actually a 5th C. king of the Burgundians, who moved into Savoy from the Rhineland. He may have been sent as a boy to Rome; taking the sons of aristocrats or kings as hostages, treating them well and showing the advantages of Roman civilization and power, was seen as a useful means of securing present peace, and molding future allies. If so, he used his insights into Roman politics to make trouble instead. The reason that Burgundy is now in France was that the Burgundians became powerful and unruly (was there a Siegfried figure, a champion or elite force, owing allegiance to Gunther? We can't know). So the Roman general Aetius made a deal with the Huns, who overran the Kingdom and killed Gunther and many of his people. This is regarded as the origin of the Nibelungenlied. A century later, in a similar bloodbath instigated by a banished princess in revenge for her father's death, the remaining Burgundians were defeated and the kingdom absorbed into that of the Franks. Incidentally, Aetius was given a major role in Verdi's 'Atilla.' His aria saying that Atilla may take the world, if he leaves Italy to Ezio is sometimes quoted as Italian nationalism, whereas in the opera itself it's an expression of Ezio's treasonous intentions toward Rome.