The Holy Mountain (1926)

A strange and beguiling romance that launched the career of Leni Riefenstahl, The Holy Mountain is the greatest of Arnold Fanck's legendary "mountain films," in which dramatic intrigues are played out against the breathtaking backdrop of the German Alps. Enthralled by the scenic majesty and heaving power of nature, an alluring dancer (Riefenstahl) seeks the man of her dreams in a small mountain village. There she encounters a reclusive climber (Louis Trenker) and a young skier (Ernst Petersen), who are each pursuing their own elusive ideals amid the intoxicating beauty and treacherous dangers of the Alps. Riefenstahl, who would later direct the controversial Triumph of the Will and Olympia, no doubt acquired her fascination with the bermensch while working on this lofty mortality tale, and developed an eye for the striking compositions for which she would later become famous.