The Seoul Olympics were an ambitious endeavor meant to present the South Korean nation to the world, rebuilt and ready for the future.
Tag: summer
Cheers Amid the Tears
David Wolper’s unique Visions of Eight brings together a remarkable cast of directors to explore the meaning of sport at Munich 1972.
First in a Class
First is the story of London 2012; or rather, the story of a selected group of first-time Olympians, a new, emotional and stylish approach to Olympic films.
Long Did They Wait
The Games of the XV Olympiad were held in Helsinki, Finland in the summer of 1952. It was a long-awaited festival: Helsinki had originally been selected to host the 1940 Games after the original host, Tokyo, withdrew due to Japan’s invasion of China. But the city never got to welcome the world in 1940, because, […]
Stockholm, Sharp & Silent
We’ve reached the final silent summer film in the Criterion Olympic Films collection, (LW: thank goodness) and it happens to be the very first one, from Stockholm 1912. We’ve already discussed a few of these silent editions (here, here, here), and by and large there’s no significant deviation from the format here. However, there are […]
Melbourne 1956: Once More, with Feeling
Last time we discussed the two small films of Melbourne/Stockholm 1956. This week we’re going to move on to the Summer Games proper with a pair of films focused on the breadth of events held in Melbourne. Despite having a similar scope, they’re incredibly different. Overwhelming Speed Olympic Games, 1956 195660 MINUTESPeter Whitchurch Olympic Games, […]
Melbourne via Stockholm and Algiers
The Olympics appeared for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere at the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia. It was the first Games to take place in two different countries, because Australian quarantine laws prevented equestrian horses from making the trip. Stockholm, Sweden stepped up to host a week of equestrian events. What this […]
Ancient Artifacts, Alive!
The official film for Paris 1924 was accompanied by a curious little piece of theatrical, athletic art to help audiences discover the Ancient Olympic Games.
Summer on the Seine
The Olympic Games returned to the French capital in 1924 under Pierre de Coubertin’s eye.
The Grandest Games
The summer Games held in Rome in 1960 were probably the first truly modern Games. Fittingly, The Grand Olympics was a new type of Olympic film.