Dancer, actress, mountaineer, and director Leni Riefenstahl's uncompromising will and audacious talent for self-promotion appeared unmatched--until 1932, when she met her future patron: Adolf Hitler. Best known for two films she made for him, Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl's demanding and obsessive style introduced unusual angles, new approaches to tracking shots, and highly symbolic montages. Despite her lifelong claim to be an apolitical...

Leni Riefenstahl and Marlene Dietrich both came of age in Weimar Berlin, a time of great political ferment. Both women seized upon the revolutionary energy of the 1920s, seeking careers on the stage and in film. In the 1930s, Riefenstahl became the official filmmaker of the Third Reich, a progenitor of fascist symbolism. Dietrich's slender and androgynous beauty made her a fashion icon. Both women had their grand passions, but neither abandoned ambition...