The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie Review

A beautiful showcase of Italy.

The Great Leap is an entertaining silent era classic starring Leni Riefenstahl and Luis Trenker. The film is set against the backdrop of the dolomite mountains of Italy. A silent-era gem with plenty of comedic fun, The Great Leap is a showcase for its stars (and the beautiful vistas of Italy as well).

Gita (Leni Riefenstahl) is a sweet-hearted Italian woman. Living a simple life in the countryside, Gita finds that her uneventful life finds unexpected adventure and intrigue when she becomes thrust in to skiing odysseys alongside a group of athletic outdoors-men. A charming comedy with plenty of fun footage of mountain climbing and fast-paced skiing adventure, The Great Leap is a energetic and jubilant ode to Italian life brimming with life and romance.

The film has a charming performance by Leni Riefenstahl. The role is perfect for the actress and she excels at imbuing the filmmaking with her natural charisma. The comedic elements of the film are entertaining and the performance helps showcase these components quite well.

The music score composed by Neil Brand (The Suitors) is one of my favorite elements. For a silent production, The Great Leap is full of vitality with the music score providing the film with quality comedic timing and entertaining action beats for the skiing sequences. The score has energy and wonderment in good measure.

A charming adventure.

The cinematography by Sepp Allgeier (The Rebel), Richard Angst (Tiger of Bengal), Albert Benitz (The Son of the White Mountain), Charles Metain (Orphan of Lowood), Kurt Neubert (Love in Stunt Flying), and Hans Schneeberger (The Blue Angel) is compelling: especially the scenes which manage to showcase the beautiful skiing locations and the stunning mountains of Italy. These are exceptional vistas. Everyone involved brought something to the table.

The skiing and mountain scenes are entertaining and help to showcase the beauty of Italy while making the production merits of The Great Leap seem all the more compelling. The cinematographic efforts from all involved are first-rate as the film has far more creativity in the skiing/mountain scenes than most modern movies would even be able to accomplish. What a feat.

Written, edited, and directed by Arnold Fanck (The Mountaineers, White Hell of Pitz Palu), The Great Leap isn't quite perfect, but the entertaining skiing/mountain scenes are well worth the price of admission. The film has abundant energy, creativity, and style. The Italian outdoors look gorgeous throughout the film and the vistas of the great mountains are fantastic. Well worthwhile for these sequences alone.

The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, The Great Leap is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The print is in generally exceptional quality. The scan looks nice for the most part. The print does have some minor warps and print damage in spots, but these moments are fleeting. Given the age of the The Great Leap, the print is also surprisingly sharp and crisp given the age of the elements.

The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. The music-only audio track is crisp and clear throughout. The sound quality is exceptional and manages to present the music in a high quality that helps the filmmaking soar.

The Great Leap includes German intertitles (with English subtitles).

The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan

The Great Leap Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Great Leap has stunning outdoor sequences showcasing the beautiful vistas of Italy and the expansive mountains and skiing slopes. These scenes are enormously entertaining and give the film plenty of charm. The Blu-ray release features a strong video-audio presentation and comes highly recommended.