Original subtitles

Despite having more or less always been in circulation,

DIE NIBELUNGEN has never been presented

in any complete German version,

whether by way of any extant release print,

or anything struck from an original camera negative.

This photochemical restoration is based on incomplete camera negatives.

Missing sections were supplemented by various extant prints of the period

along with archival copies.

Colouration follows the conventional method of then-contemporary prints,

and is based upon original tinting technique:

the production of a B&W print,

with subsequent staining performed in a dye-bath.

The German intertitles were taken from extant prints and flash-titles

restored digitally from the negatives.

Missing titles that have been reconstructed

are designated by the Murnau-Stiftung logo.

For this HD mastering, the image has been corrected in places,

and heavy damage to the film has been retouched.

THE NIBELUNGEN

Director: Fritz Lang

Scenario: Thea von Harbou

Cinematography: Carl Hoffmann and Günther Rittau

Set Design and Construction: Otto Hunte

Set Collaborators: Erich Kettelhut and Karl Vollbrecht

Costume Design: Paul Gerd Guderian

Make-Up: Otto Genath

Music: Gottfried Huppertz

Costumes and Props for the Huns: Heinrich Umlauff

Cast:

Kriemhild: Margarete Schön

Queen Ute: Gertrud Arnold

King Gunther: Theodor Loos

Gerenot: Hans Carl Müller

Giselher: Erwin Biswanger

Volker von Alzey: Bernhard Goetzke

Hagen Tronje: Hans Adalbert Schlettow

Dankwart: Hardy von François

The Priest: Georg Jurowski

The Noble Boy: Iris Roberts

König Etzel (King Attila): Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Blaodel, His Brother: Georg John

Werbel, the Bard: Hubert Heinrich

Margrave Rüdiger von Bechlarn: Rudolf Rittner

Dietlind, His Daughter: Aenne Röttgen

Dietrich von Bern: Fritz Alberti

Hildebrand: Georg August Koch

Thea von Harbou's script for the film Die Nibelungen,

with 24 images from the production,

is published by Drei Masken Verlag, Munich.

THE NIBELUNGEN

Dedicated to the German People

KRIEMHILD'S REVENGE

The First Canto:

How Kriemhild Mourned Siegfried,

and How König Etzel (King Attila) Courted Her

Through Rüdiger von Bechlarn.

King Gunther, Margrave Rüdiger von Bechlarn asks for an audience!

I come as ambassador to King Attila. He who is called the Lord of the Earth —

He who seeks the hand of your sister Kriemhild in marriage.

I am afraid King Attila knows not whom he woos.

In the name of Siegfried, who was murdered and whose murderer lives!

Keep in mind how Siegfried died!

Lord Attila sends me, O Queen, to ask for your hand on his behalf!

You seem to know quite well, Rüdiger,

that I have been exposed

to grievous wrongs

in the house of my clan!

Brother! Where is your brother Siegfried?

Deliver unto me the murderer of my husband, O King!

He has remained loyal to me;

so shall I remain loyal to him.

This, Kriemhild, is my final word!

Lady Kriemhild, Margrave Rüdiger,

wishes to speak with you after evensong!

Now, Gerenot, is the time to keep close watch over Burgundy!

Speak to me of Lord Attila, Rüdiger!

You court a dead woman, Rüdiger!

He who murdered my husband

flaunts the green sparkling sword

that he stole from the dead man.

If ever you were done wrong at Attila's court, my lady,

— Lord Attila would know how to avenge you!

Lord Margrave, swear this unto me in your and in King Attila's names!

Not on the cross, Lord Margrave, — on the sharp edge of your sword!

My lady! Lord Hagen has stolen the Treasure!

You have my word, Lord Margrave Rüdiger!

Hagen Tronje, where is the Treasure?

Thus spake loyal Hagen:

Somewhere, my lady, where no-one

might use the gold to forge arms

against the kings of Burgundy!

Thus ends the First Canto.

The Second Canto:

How Kriemhild Fled Her Homeland,

and How She Was Received

by Lord Attila.

You have drunk Siegfried's blood, O Earth!

One day I shall drench you with Hagen Tronje's blood!

I shall return! Rest assured, I shall return!

My daughter, shall you not proffer your hand in farewell to your brother Gunther?

No, mother.

You are heading far away, Lady Kriemhild.

Don't you want to make peace with your family first?

No, my priest.

Don't you even once want to hail your people, my lady?

No, Rüdiger.

As Kriemhild approached, springtime blossomed in the land of the Huns.

That sack full of gold is mine! The queen is coming!

Meet her, brother!

Royal jewellery!

My lady, King Attila's brother, Blaodel, gives thee welcome!

Choose for yourself

a kingdom from my lands, Rüdiger,

in gratitude for this woman!

Ask King Attila, Margrave Rüdiger,

whether he is prepared

to make your oath his own!

Upon my oath, O Queen:

any man who insults you

or does you wrong

shall die a hundredfold death!

Thus ends the Second Canto.

The Third Canto:

How King Attila Besieged Rome

and How Kriemhild Summoned Her Brothers.

Lord Attila swore

he wanted to turn Rome's churches

into stables for our horses!

Why does Lord Attila

no longer uphold his oath?

We traipsed headlong into war!

Why don't we ride further onward?

Why is Lord Attila's horse

tethered to his tent?

A great horseman was King Attila!

A mighty mare for him was the world!

Lord Attila whipped the world — his mare!

What does Lord Attila do now?

He sleeps! He sleeps! Lord Attila, Attila sleeps!

This white woman has stolen Attila

from underneath our noses!

With her tresses

does she bind up the horseman,

The great horseman, Lord Attila!

This white woman has stolen Attila

from underneath our noses!

With her tresses

does she bind up the horseman,

The great horseman, Lord Attila!

My lord —! Kriemhild...

My lord —! Kriemhild has borne you a son!

O Earth... sacred Earth...

One wish, O Queen! One wish that I might fulfill for you!

If you would honour me

and make me happy, Lord Attila,

then summon my brothers

as guests to your court!

To Worms, Blaodel,

to request as guests to our court

the royal brothers of my wife!

Thus ends the Third Canto.

The Fourth Canto:

How Kriemhild Received Her Brothers.

For more than one moon's time

your brothers stayed as guests of Rüdiger

in the house of Bechlarn.

The minstrels sing a new song of the love

between your brother Giselher

and Rüdiger's only child,

the beautiful Dietlind!

And so I bind in faith —

Bechlarn and Burgundy:

one heart, one life, one death!

To honour your brothers,

Lord Attila has sent the noblest of his knights —

Dietrich von Bern — to greet them.

Once more, Nibelungen,

before Lord Attila comes to greet you:

Forget not to whom Attila leads thee!

How could we forget, my lord,

that we come to visit our sister Kriemhild?

Whoever wants to win my gratitude shall bear my sorrow in mind!

It was the day of the summer solstice,

and the Nibelungen arrived at Attila's court.

King Attila, I now exhort you to your oath!

Siegfried's murderer is in your hands! Think upon my sorrow!

Will you never forget Lord Siegfried, my lady?

Hagen Tronje shall fight me for his life!

You mustn't fight with the murderer, Attila! You must have the murderer killed!

Have our guest killed?

You swore to me, Attila!

On the life of your child:

Make good upon your oath!

I hail from a desert land, O Queen.

If only one thing is sacred, it is a guest!

So long as Hagen Tronje regards the peace of my house,

he shall be left in peace!

She spoke: Whoever wants to win my gratitude shall bear my sorrow in mind!

Whoever brings me the head of Tronje,

I shall fill his shield with gold!

But I beseech you: do no harm to the sons of my mother!

Play on, bard!

Thus ends the Fourth Canto.

The Fifth Canto:

How the Huns Celebrated the Summer Solstice with the Nibelungen.

Is it the fashion at Worms upon the Rhine

to sit at table armed from head to foot?

Lord Hagen Tronje knows why he never lays aside his sword!

Methinks that at such a feast

the heir to all Attila's crowns

mustn't be absent!

Methinks the boy will not live long.

Scarcely shall we as guests attend any court of his!

Treason!

The child!

The work of your guest, Lord Attila!

Now, Nibelungen, you are fair game!

I demand safe conduct from this hall

for myself and my men!

Thus ends the Fifth Canto.

The Sixth Canto:

The Nibelungen's Distress.

Alert Lady Kriemhild of what it is you see!

Open the gate!

No Hun survives any longer in Attila's hall!

Avenge thy dead, Huns!

O Queen, it is impossible!

Avenge thy dead, Huns, and the royal child!

Sister!

Sister! Consider your mother!

Hand over Siegfried's murderer — and you shall be free!

The fight is too uneven!

Not one of the Nibelungen will gaze upon this next dawn.

In Giselher does my own child die!

Stay out of it, Rüdiger!

Blood shall follow blood!

Get me Rüdiger!

The time is nigh, Lord Rüdiger! Make good upon your oath!

Lord Margrave Rüdiger, I demand from you Siegfried's murderer!

You do not send me against Hagen Tronje,

— you send me

against your brothers, my lady,

who defend him with their very lives!

You've sworn an oath, Rüdiger!

You've sworn it upon the sharp edge of your sword!

I engaged my only child to Giselher!

Blood shall follow blood, Lord Rüdiger!

My lord! Do not force me to kill my only child!

Thus ends the Sixth Canto.

The Seventh Canto:

The Nibelungen's End.

Lord Rüdiger stands before the gate!

He will bring us peace!

What do you bring us, father?

Death!

My lord, do not allow they who love one another to kill one another!

Tell them:

They must deliver unto me

the murderer of my child

—and they are free!

You know not the German soul, Lord Attila!

The oath I made to Kriemhild is older than the oath between myself and you!

Don't force me to break my oath! Fight!

Do you wish me to lose my honour?! — Defend yourself, Hagen Tronje!

O sister, what you have wrought!

Deliver Hagen unto me — and you are free!

Exalt in your revenge, Kriemhild!

Your younger brother is dead!

Rüdiger and his men are dead!

But Hagen Tronje lives on, who slew your Siegfried!

Hurl fire into the hall!

My lord! The Queen bids the hall be bombarded with fire arrows!

The palace is burning!

Lady Kriemhild is right,

she is more than right!

I myself will stand at her side as the fire

flushes the murderer Hagen from his hole!

You have my thanks, Kriemhild!

Although we were never united in love,

we will, in the end, yet be united in hate!

Never, King Attila, was my heart so filled with love as now!

I don't want King Gunther of Burgundy

to die a smoky death!

I shall offer Lady Kriemhild my head!

Speak, ye Nibelungen, will you buy your lives with Hagen Tronje's head?!

Loyalty, unbroken by iron, also will not melt in fire, Hagen Tronje!

Look! Volker prepares his fiddle for one final song!

I call it a shame and a disgrace,

Lady Kriemhild, that you let these heroes

whom you could not defeat in battle

be annihilated in fiery distress!

Do you hear? Lord Volker is singing!

O, that we were on the cool, green Rhine!

Do you hear? Lord Volker is singing!

You are no human being, Lady Kriemhild —!

No! I died when Siegfried died...

An end —! An end —!

One vassal still lives, Lord Attila!

I cannot go home to my dead Siegfried

before having atoned for every wrong...

Here is the sword, Lord Hagen.

Where is the Treasure?

I swore never to betray the location of the Treasure

so long as one of my kings still lives!

Now, Kriemhild,

no-one knows anything of the Treasure

other than God and myself!

And God is no more discreet than I!

Now, Earth, drink your fill!

Deliver her home to Siegfried,

her dead husband!

She belonged to no other man!

Here does the myth have an end.

Restoration:

With the collaboration of:

The following partners also contributed to the restoration:

Film restoration laboratory:

Consultation on image quality and tinting:

Original score:

Reconstruction and synchronisation:

Music in ZDF/Arte Edition:

Recorded with:

Musical director:

Sound mixers:

Synch editing:

Sound engineer:

Musical production of:

Editorial:

Director of production:

A co-production of: