''The White Ecstasy'' (German: ''Der weiße Rausch'') is a 1931 German mountain film written and directed by Arnold Fanck and starring

Hannes Schneider Johann "Hannes" Schneider (24 June 1890 – 26 April 1955) was an Austrian ski instructor of the first half of the 20th century, famous for pioneering the Arlberg technique of instruction. Many consider him the Father of Modern Day Skiing. A ...

, Leni Riefenstahl, Guzzi Lantschner, and Walter Riml. The film is about the skiing exploits of a young village girl (played by Riefenstahl), and her attempts to master the sport of skiing and ski-jumping aided by the local ski expert (played by Schneider). Filmed on location in Sankt Anton am Arlberg, the film was one of the first to use and develop outdoor film-making techniques and featured several innovative action-skiing scenes. Two Tyrolean skiing stars, Walter Riml and Guzzi Lantschner, have important parts in this movie. They play two Hamburger carpenters in their traditional outfits. They come to the Arlberg and try to learn how to ski with the aid of two different skiing books. A Weisse Rausch downhill race, based on the film, is held every April in

St. Anton Sankt Anton am Arlberg, commonly referred to as St Anton, is a village and ski resort in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It lies in the Tyrolean Alps, with aerial tramways and chairlifts up to , yielding a vertical drop of . It is also a popular s ...

.''Ski''
(Jun-Jul 2004) Vol. 68, No. 8:32

Cast

as Hannes * Leni Riefenstahl as Leni * Rudi Matt as Rudi * Lothar Ebersberg as Der kleine Lothar * Guzzi Lantschner as Guzzi, the Hamburger carpenter * Walter Riml as Walter, the Hamburger carpenter * Otto Lantschner * Harald Reinl *

David Zogg David Zogg (18 December 1902 – 26 July 1977) was a Swiss alpine and Nordic combined skier. He was raised in Arosa, Switzerland. At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz he finished 16th in the Nordic combined event. In 1931, he won th ...

* Josef Gumboldt * Hans Kogler * Luggi Foeger * Benno Leubner * Hans Salcher * Kurt Reinl

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
''Filmwelt'' Nr. 51
(20 December 1931) Berlin * Sadoul, Georges; Morris, Peter (1972)
''Dictionary of Film Makers''
University of California Press pg 79 * Hinton, David B. (2000
''The Films of Leni Riefenstahl''
Scarecrow Press pg 9-10 * Richards, Jeffrey (2013) ''Visions of Yesterday'' pg 294

External links

* * *
Walter Riml website
1931 films German black-and-white films 1930s German-language films Films of the Weimar Republic Mountaineering films Skiing films Films directed by Arnold Fanck Films set in the Alps Films scored by Paul Dessau German comedy films 1931 comedy films 1930s German films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub