On the one hand, the skiing sequences are spectacularly performed and shot. It is easy to see the genesis of some of Riefenstahl's set-ups for "Olympia" in the slow-motion and low angle camera work ("Skicam!"). On the other hand, as a film this is just laughable, with Riefenstahl mugging her way through a plot that must have taken all of a minute to think up. It's hard to believe that this is anything other than Arnold Fanck collecting the producer Harry Sokal's money, yelling to his cast and crew, "Come on, we're going skiing!," and then tossing something together in the editing room once everyone had thawed out and sobered up. No wonder Riefenstahl (reportedly) insisted on G. W. Pabst being hired as the "co-director" of "The White Hell of Pitz Palu;" when given full control over the dramatics of the film as he is here, Fanck makes Mack Sennett look like Herik Ibsen.
