100 Years of Olympic Films - Criterion Collection

Well, since the 2024 Paris Olympics opens this week, I thought it the perfect time to write about this incredible box set from the Criterion Collection. 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912-2012 is a 36 disc box set that is exactly what the title states. I am not a fan of sports as a rule, however I am a big fan of the Olympic. For me they truly signify a time for the whole world to come together peacefully (usually), and celebrate what the human body can accomplish...and what horses can be trained to do. This box set comes with a 216 page book that provides a ton of photos, as well as background information for each disc, and each Olympic film. The book starts with a history of how film and the Olympics came together, mentioning that the Lumiére brothers were just starting to work with finm in 1894 when the first Olympic congress was gathering in Paris to create the modern Olympics. Unfortunately the brothers weren't ready to present anything until 1895, and though they were sending out their camera operators, nothing was filmed ath 1896 Olympic Games in Athens. It didn't take long though for film and the Olympics to start coming together. The first somewhat complete filmed games is from 1912 in Stockholm Sweden - the 5th Olympic Games.

That is where this collection starts. There is newly composed music to go with the silent black/white films from the first few films from 1912-1928. War broke out and so the next film is from 1936. This is where some truly interesting filming comes into play. Think of Leni Riefenstahl who really knew how to film an athlete. This film may have been the reason she was asked to film some of the big rallys during World War II. If you can separate the political from the visual, the 1936 films (both the winter and summer games in Berlin) are gorgeous films to watch. Even more so when you get to see American Jessie Owens take victory in his races. The book also provides some great stories about things that happened that you may not see. For example, in 1912, the weather was so warm in Stockholm that one of the marathon runners quit during the race and went back to Japan. Kanakuri Shizo holds a world record for the longest marathon time, and I think it is a fascinating story. From the film of Paris in 1924, you can watch Johnny Weissmuller swing races long before he became Tarzan. What I really enjoy about the majority of these films is that it provides a chance to see opening ceremonies, and parts of each sport during these earlier Olympic Games. Personally I love that! 

Later in the box set, you get some more artistic versions of the Games. The gorgeous films by Riefenstahl from 1936 had more than 50 cameramen to cover every stage of every event resulting in two stunning films. The films return in 1948 (after WWII) and you will find that Germany and Japan were not invited for that year. You do get to hear George VI open the 1948 London Games - which if you are a fan of the film The King's Speech, you will want to see this. This was also the first games that was filmed in color.  After this some films are in black and white, and some are in color. Color films start to take over in 1956. Included in this box set are some major sports films by very well known directors. I have already mentioned Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl, but you also see Tokyo Olympiad by Kon Ichikawa, and Visions of Eight. You get to see the 1968 Mexico Games with the raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos. You can watch how each sport changes and gets to be what we know it today. You can see the diving, and gymnastics stretch their skill set. You get to see the film from the American boycotted games of Moscow in 1980. And then things change in 1984. Bud Greenspan took over and there are a total of ten films that he directed in this collection. The change that he makes is that he focuses on single athletes, and really giving a personal touch to the games via interviews with families, footage of the athlete training, etc. Some viewers will love this however I did not because I felt it really took away the focus on the bigger event. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the films he did but not as much as I enjoyed the more documentary over-view of the games.

One additional film I watched while working my way through this box set was the opening ceremonies from Beijing in 2008. They were created and directed by one of my favorite Chinese directors Zhang Yimou. NBC put the complete opening ceremonies (from what they aired) onto a two-disc set and it is just as stunning as when I first saw it. I wish that they would have done the same for some other games, as there have been some stunning opening and closing ceremonies. I remember Barcelona in 1992, Lillehammer in 1994, Atlanta in 1996 with the stunning Jessye Norman, Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004, and also London in 2012. While the films collected here do a decent job of showing aspects of the opening ceremonies, and closing ceremonies, it would be great if they were available in a physical media format. Maybe someday. In the meantime, I am excited for Paris this year and so happy to have this incredible box set as part of my collection.