Olympics Films 1948-1960: Serious Event Coverage with Touches of Sexism and Racism

By David Wallechinsky

Part 2

Most of the official Olympic films between 1948 and 1960 were serious sports documentaries that tried to present as many sports and events as possible. The 1960 Rome film was the first to combine decent coverage of the athletes with artistic excellence. Some of the films, most notably the one about the 1948 St. Moritz Games and one of the two 1956 Melbourne films, descend into silliness. Both of them were directed by French filmmakers. There are also numerous painfully clueless examples of cultural insensitivities and sexual stereotyping.

 

1948 – St. Moritz

After the horrors of World War II, the Olympic Movement reemerged after a 12-year break, and St. Moritz stepped up to host the Winter Games again. Towards the end of the official film of these Games, Fight Without Hate, the narrator, “Gaston,” referring to the athletes, says, “Someday they may appear naïve and old-fashioned.” Decades later, this description more accurately applies to the film’s narrative itself.

After a five-minute history of the Olympics, we are shown athletes training for various sports. The narrator tells us, “Only men. A little patience. The women are resting, doing themselves up, getting ready to present themselves before you.” During the Parade of Nations, Gaston’s wife interrupts to comment on how sexy the American men look. Gaston admonishes her by saying that we don’t judge sportsmen by their sexual appeal. But later, during the women’s figure skating, Gaston asks, “Can a judge focus on skates without ogling ankles and thighs.” His wife reminds him (in terms appropriate to 1948) that sexism works both ways.

The theme of the film is that the return of the Olympics represents “combat without hatred.” We are reminded that just a few years earlier, nations represented in St. Moritz were fighting against each other, and that now they are competing in harmony, not as enemies. This is true, but left unsaid is that the IOC banned Germany and Japan from taking part in either the Winter or Summer Games of 1948.

As for the competitions themselves, we see a variety of events, and are even shown some of the technical preparations, such as waxing of skis, equipment checks before the bobsleigh events and laying out of the skeleton course. During the skeleton competition, we are treated to a close-up of “56-year-old Coats of Great Britain.” Actually, that would be Jimmy Coates, who was 53 years old. Despite his age, Coates took seventh place out of 15 competitors.

 

For some strange reason, of the three ice hockey matches that are shown, two are of the United States losing by one goal each. The US team was ultimately disqualified because of a dispute between the US Olympic Committee and the International Hockey Federation after two American teams showed up in St. Moritz. The narrator comments that “Ice hockey is not a sport for ladies.” One factual error: the narrator tells us that the Italian team gave up 140 goals in their eight matches. Actually, they gave up 156.

Although it was being included in the Olympic programme for the first time, the men’s downhill is described as the highlight of the Games. We are shown numerous spills, including those of an unnamed Norwegian and an unnamed Italian who get up and continue the course anyway. Henri Oreiller of France, who won by four seconds, is described as attacking the course with an attitude of “the hospital or victory.”

Figure skaters earn extra coverage, in particular Barbara Ann Scott of Canada, who won the women’s event, and the men’s victor, Dick Button, who is described as “devilishly dynamic…and very American.” There is also a long sequence, staged for the cameras, of various figure skaters, even augmented with special effects.

 

1948 – London

The official film of the 1948 Summer Games, titled The Glory of Sport, was released just 18 days after the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympics. It was filmed in technicolor. The first 38 minutes are devoted to a brief history of the ancient Olympics (including the false story of the existence of an Olympic truce) and the St. Moritz Winter Games. This version is more straightforward than the Swiss one (see above) and more of the rules are explained. But, despite being in colour, it does seem a bit flat without “Gaston” and his wife.

The next 54 minutes cover the Opening Ceremony and athletics. Although there is emphasis on the British athletes, it is mild, and other nations are well-represented. Coverage of all other sports is reduced to just 30 minutes. This is followed by riveting coverage of the marathon and then the Closing Ceremony.

At the Opening Ceremony, the athletes break rank to get a close look at the entry of the Olympic Flame. Echoing a bit of the mood the 1948 Winter film, the narrator describes the American women as “a pretty bunch of cover girls.”

In bright colours and start-to-finish coverage, we see Fanny Blankers-Koen win all four of her gold medals. Also Barney Ewell leaping with joy because he thinks he won the 100 metres, when, in fact, fellow American Harrison Dillard edged him in a photo finish. We are treated to several sequences of trainers and teammates rushing to embrace compatriots as soon as they cross the finish line in first place, most notably Belgian Gaston Reiff upsetting Emil Zátopek in the 5,000 metres.

The only non-athletics sports included in the film are sailing, rowing, equestrian, cycling, swimming and diving. When ”Ran” Laurie and John Wilson win the coxless pairs, the flag raising appears to only include the British flag and not those of the silver and bronze medal winners. Both Sammy Lee and Vicki Draves are shown winning gold medals in diving. In fact, they both swept both the platform and springboard events, and they were the first Asian-American Olympic champions. The first victory by Draves, who was Filipino-American, preceded that of Lee, who was Korean-American, by two days.

Extended coverage of the cycling road race includes an unusual incident in which two unnamed cyclists crash into each other, fall and begin yelling at each other. Just when it looks like they may come to blows, race officials arrive in their enormous Rolls-Royces and separate them.

The final event shown is the marathon. We follow the progress of the race and then the dramatic finish in which Belgian Étienne Gailly, barely able to keep from fainting, is passed in the stadium by Delfo Cabrera of Argentina and Tom Richards of Great Britain. About to slow to a walk, he is urged on by a track official, holds on for third place and is then carried away on a stretcher.

At the Closing Ceremony, this message is placed on the scoreboard: “The spirit of the Olympic Games which has tarried here a while, sets forth once more. May it prosper throughout the world safe in the keeping of all those who have felt its noble impulse in this great festival of sport.”  This may seem overblown to some, but it is worth keeping in mind that the London Olympics were held only three years after a war that left an estimated 70 million people dead.

 

1952 – Oslo

Back to black and white, the 1952 Winter Olympics film, The VI Olympic Winter Games, Oslo 1952, is as straightforward as can be. It covers all the sports and, even though it emphasizes Norwegian athletes, it gives fair coverage to those from other nations.

Beginning with an explanation of the importance and origins of skiing and skating in Norway, the introduction takes barely six minutes. The Torch Relay begins not in Olympia, but at the home of Sondre Norheim, a pioneer of modern competitive skiing and Norway’s first national ski champion (in 1868). The cauldron in the stadium is lit by Eigil Nansen, grandson of 1922 Nobel Peace Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen.

The remainder of the film covers the competitions themselves. Slow-motion sequences are generally reserved to demonstrate the techniques of the gold medal winners. In journalistic fashion, many of the events discuss the favorites and the progress of races. There is extended coverage of events of greatest interest to Norwegians, such as the Nordic combined and various cross-country races, with many shots (as in previous Winter Olympics films) of skiers struggling uphill.

Here and there, there are some commentaries of interest. While we watch Annemarie Buchner race to the bronze medal in the giant slalom, we are told that she is the first German athlete to compete in Norway since the end of World War II.

During coverage of the ice hockey tournament, each match of which was sold out, the narrator speaks disapprovingly of the violent play of the Americans, noting that such displays are fortunately rare in European hockey. Later, when Canada plays the United States, he points out that the two sides are used to “brutal” tactics.

There is a light interlude filmed at the Athletes Village for Alpine skiers in which Spanish skiers put on a show inspired by bullfighting and three white skiers from New Zealand present their version of the Maori haka dance.

The first cross-country skiing race for women is won by Lydia Wideman of Finland. French figure skater Alain Giletti, who was only 12 years old, is given special coverage, as is another figure skater, bronze medal winner Jacqueline du Bief, who is described as “French from her head to her skates.”

But the athlete who is given the most coverage, for good reason, is Norway’s Hjalmar Andersen, who won three gold medals in speed skating in three days. We even follow him as he visits the Norwegian Ski Museum.

The film concludes with the event that Norwegians consider the most important: the ski jump at Holmenkollen, which, by 1952, had already been hosting competitions for 60 years. The Olympic event was attended by 140,000 spectators, who were given satisfaction when the gold and silver medals were won by two Norwegians, Arnfinn Bergmann and Torbjørn Falkanger.

 

1952 – Helsinki

 

 

The official film of the Helsinki Olympics was released in two parts, aimed at the Finnish audience. Part One, Where the World Meets, covers the Opening Ceremony and athletics. Coverage of the Parade of Nations includes some examples of cultural insensitivity. As the Japanese team marches in, we are shown cheering fans … from Korea, which had been occupied by Japanese forces. When the athletes from Pakistan arrive, we are told that they come from the land of “One Thousand and One Nights” even though Pakistan has no connection with this collection of folk tales. And, in a wince-making moment, when the German team marches, we are reminded that they were banned from the last Olympics, but now they have a new flag, although they have the same “military discipline.” This is not the best choice of words considering it was Germany’s military actions that caused them to be uninvited to the 1948 Games.

There are actually two Olympic cauldrons set alight. The first, on the track, is lit by Paavo Nurmi, and another by Hannes Kolehmainen, who lights a cauldron on top of a tower, although this is not shown.

The Finnish love of athletics is obvious in the coverage of events on both the track and on the field. Considering that Finland was shut out of the gold medals, the competitions are graciously described and are accompanied by commentary that refers to the history of some of the athletes and their pre-Olympics accomplishments. The first event shown is the 10,000 metres, the first of Emil Zátopek’s unprecedented triple gold long-distance sweep.

During the coverage of the men’s shot put and discus, we are reminded that Roland Nilsson of Sweden studied in the United States [at the University of Michigan], an early example of foreign athletes benefiting from training in the United States.

The men’s long jump is referred to as “a black contest.” When Adhemar da Silva of Brazil wins the triple jump with a world record, he is asked to take a lap of honour, which the film claims makes him the first field athlete in Olympic history to do so.

 

The coverage of the 5,000 metres, won by Zátopek, and the 1,500 metres, won by Josy Barthel of Luxembourg, is engrossing, as are the 12 minutes devoted to the marathon. We are told that the marathon is the “most glorious” of events and the winner “the greatest hero.” That winner, Zátopek again, smiles at the camera while running early in the race, before reverting to his famous grimace as the race continues.

There are several mentions of this or that female athlete being attractive, but some of the male athletes get the same admiring treatment.

There are also occasional mentions of an athlete or a nation earning a “point,” as sixth place, from the Finnish point of view, was worth one point and fifth place two.

Part Two, Gold and Glory, covers seventeen other sports. Only fencing, shooting and water polo are missing. We are shown tourists arriving and staying in campgrounds. We are told that autograph seekers among the local citizens had a field day with athletes from so many nations, and that dark-skinned athletes were particularly popular. Female athletes were housed at a nursing school.

Sports coverage begins with six different boxing finals. African-Americans win half of the divisions. When 17-year-old middleweight Floyd Patterson knocks out Vasile Tiţă of Romania in the first round, we don’t see the punch, but we certainly see the effect. Norvel Lee, winner of the light-heavyweight division, is praised as stylish and “gentlemanly.” In general, the combatants are portrayed as friendly adversaries rather than as enemies. Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson is heavily criticized after being disqualified for passivity in the final, and we are shown the empty silver medal platform during the medal ceremony. Little could one have known that, seven years later, Johansson would become a national hero when he knocked out Floyd Patterson to become the professional world champion.

For the first time in an Olympic film, we see coverage of wrestling matches and basketball. Without going into details, the narrator notes that in the basketball final between the United States and the Soviet Union, trouble developed, and police and security forces had to “intervene.” These were the first Games in which Soviet athletes took part. Despite the basketball incident, the film emphasizes that, despite the Cold War, athletes from the East and West got along well.

Footage of the women’s team portable apparatus gymnastics event, which was officially part of the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, demonstrates that it was a clear precursor to team rhythmic gymnastics, which was not added to the Olympic programme until 1996.

The football final shows a goal made by Hungary’s Ferenc Puskás, whom the narrator tells us is already a standout player. He was 26 years old at the time of the Helsinki Olympics. In 2009, FIFA inaugurated the Puskás Award for the “most beautiful” goal of the year. At the medal ceremony, the olive branches are presented by Finland’s 17-year-old Armi Kuusela, who, just a month earlier, had been crowned the winner of the first Miss Universe contest.

Coverage of the 50-kilometre walk is highlighted by Giuseppe Dordoni of Italy combing his hair as he walks, before entering the stadium as the winner.

As the 1,500-metre swimming event proceeds, the narrator notes that all three medallists are Japanese, although they compete for different countries: gold to Ford Konno of the United States, silver to Shiro Hashizume of Japan and bronze to Tetsuo Okamoto of Brazil. The narrator also points out that although Konno competed for the US, he was really from Hawaii (which did not become part of the United States until seven years later). Of course, Hawaiians had been competing as Americans since the days of Duke Kahanamoku in 1912.

This being a Finnish film, there is extensive coverage of the kayaking events, of which four of the five were won by athletes from Finland. Sylvi Saimo, winner of the only women’s event, is honoured as the first female Olympic champion from Finland. It would be another 44 years before another Finnish woman earned an Olympic gold medal in any sport.

In 1954, another film, 50 minutes long, was released: Memories of the Olympic Summer of 1952. This one is in colour. But it also contains something not included in the original three-hour+ version: hindsight. Finland expected more tourists and was overprepared. The organisers even provided “new mattress covers” for the newly-built Olympic Village. Many hotel rooms went unfilled and ticket sales to foreigners were fewer than expected. The film takes an upbeat interpretation of this disappointment by pointing out that at least more seats were available for Finns.

The other disappointment was the Finnish failure in athletics. One gathers between the lines of the commentary that this was considered a national scandal. In 1936, Finland gained ten medals in athletics. The number dropped to three in 1948 and just one bronze in their home stadium in 1952.

Mention is made of the Soviet Union setting up its own athletes’ village with 100 kitchen staff. However, there is also emphasis on the Helsinki Olympics healing “this broken age we live in” and countering “war and destructive politics.”

 

1956 – Cortina d’Ampezzo

Despite its unfortunate title, White Vertigo, the film of the 1956 Winter Olympics contains some beautiful footage, beginning with ten minutes of “sad” late autumn turning into invigorating white winter. Humble villagers are shown collecting firewood and preparing for the cold – a far cry from the posh scenes in the resort of Cortina as it hosts the Winter Games.

Director Giorgio Ferroni, who would go on to make such films as Bondage Gladiator Sexy, Secret Agent Super Dragon and Gunman Sent by God, uses a technique in which he juxtaposes two events to demonstrate the diversity of winter sports, such as women’s downhill and four-man bobsleigh or women’s slalom with 10,000-metre speed skating, bouncing back and forth between musical themes for each. In the case of his cutting between 500-metre speed skating and figure skating, he demonstrates that there is an artistic beauty to the techniques of the leading speed skaters.

We are reminded that the athletes are normal young men and women who relax and read and flirt and, in the case of women, knit and emerge from the “chrysalises” of their sporting outfits to don fashionable dresses. The varied breakfasts consumed by the athletes from Finland, Japan, Russia and Canada are described. And we get to see actress Sophia Loren attending the women’s slalom. As for coverage of the competitions themselves, all sports are shown, with extended segments on the 50-kilometre cross-country race and the cross-country relay, as well as Austria’s Toni Sailer, who swept the three Alpine skiing events. After a montage of skiers in the men’s downhill falling in the Romerlo meadow section of the course, Sailer’s technique to save himself from losing control is shown with a freeze frame of his splayed skis and then his recovery.

Emphasis in the ice hockey section is on violent play. The match between the Soviet Union and the United States is described as “dramatic and polemic.” The Soviet team, competing in the Winter Olympics for the first time, wins the tournament. The film incorrectly states that Canada had won the last five Olympic championships. Great Britain won in 1936, albeit with a squad composed of Canadians.

There are artistic montages of unnamed figure skaters and, to conclude the film, ski jumpers.

 

1956  – Stockholm

Because of restrictive Australian quarantine laws, the IOC gave permission to hold the 1956 equestrian events in Sweden five months before the Melbourne Olympics. The Horse in the Forefront is a tidy 16-minute short that covers the horseback torch relay from Malmö to the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm, where, as the narrator points out, for the only time in Olympic history, the cauldron is lit by a rider on horseback. Attention is given to the presence of the royal families of Great Britain and Sweden. The three equestrian disciplines are shown, with more time, not surprisingly, devoted to the three-day event, complete with the obligatory spills. Throughout, the competitors are forced to slog through rainy and muddy conditions.

 

1956  – Melbourne

There are two films about the Melbourne Summer Games. The first, an hour long, is titled Olympic Games 1956, and it is as straightforward and efficient as its title.

Reference is made to ongoing wars without specifics, as is the fact that five nations have boycotted, although their names are not mentioned. Actually, seven nations boycotted: Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon to protest the Israeli-led invasion of the Suez Canal; and Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary. China, which initially agreed to compete in the Melbourne Games, withdrew after Taiwan was accepted as an official entry. During the Parade of Nations, on the other hand, West Germany and East Germany march in together in the Summer Olympics for the first time. A message on the stadium scoreboard reminds spectators that the IOC does not recognize national rankings by points.

The film manages to cover dozens of events in 12 sports in a short time by concentrating on the winners. Volodymyr Kuts of the USSR wins both the 10,000 metres and the 5,000 metres. Later, Kuts would suffer a rapid decline of health, turn alcoholic and die of a combination of alcohol and phenobarbital. But in 1956 we see him smiling happily with one of his rivals, Gordon Pirie of Great Britain and other westerners.

Other than the sprints, there is only one final that is shown in its entirety: the 1,500 metres. The coverage is captivating. The field is packed with famous runners, including local favourite John Landy, the second man to break the four-minute mile. But the narrator makes sure that, throughout the race, we keep an eye on the man in green, Ireland’s Ron Delany. As the twelve runners enter the final lap, barely eight metres separates the leader from the man in last place. Gunnar Nielsen of Denmark signals Delany to pass him on the inside, and Delany launches a long sprint that gains him an unexpected gold medal. Landy, who placed third, sees Delany collapsed on the track with his head on his hands and rushes over to make sure he is alright. But Delany isn’t ill; he’s praying.

Despite the rapid-fire coverage, the film does slow down enough to show workers at the running deer shooting event shoving running deer targets down a ramp and then brushing over the bullet holes with their hands to clean the targets for the next shooters.

After Mexican Joaquin Capílla, competing in his third Olympics, wins his first gold medal, his brother Alberto jumps into the pool to embrace him…just as French swimmer Jean Boiteux’s father did when his son won the 400-metre freestyle in 1952.

Water polo is given one sentence stating that the championship was won by Hungary. There is no film footage and no mention made of the bloody match between the Hungarians and the players from the Soviet Union, which led to police being called in to prevent an anti-Soviet riot.

The Closing Ceremony emphasizes the “forward march of youth with common ideals” and concludes with a moving rendition of ”Waltzing Matilda” with lyrics altered to express peace, harmony and the Australian desire that athletes and visitors return some day: “Will ye no’ come back again?”

An end graphic with a map of Australia and one of Italy, host of the next Olympics, states “Not The End.”

The second Melbourne film, The Melbourne Rendez-Vous, is directed by French filmmaker René Lucot. It is more cinematic, but from the point-of-view of Olympic coverage, it leaves a lot to be desired. During a silly introduction about Melbourne, which he compares to the French city of Tours, the narrator says that because of the Olympics, “Mediterranean fever has seized these Anglo-Saxon people.”

The film also engages in a lot of “soft” sexism and racism. Although Lucot does comment that US shot put champion Parry O’Brien is less attractive than his teammate, Ken Bantum, he saves most of his appearance judgments for women. He even gives us a montage of female athletes disrobing on the infield before competing. An American male athlete is seen flirting with an Italian female athlete. The American is identified as hurdler Glenn Davis; the Italian woman is unnamed.

Non-white athletes are treated like members of an exotic species. Lucot cuts in several sequences about the small team from Liberia, but always showing them lolling about and relaxing, never competing. The narrator posits that the Liberians can always lie about their Olympic feats when they return home. At another point, two ”Singaporean” women are shown taking in the sights of Melbourne. Actually, they are black and obviously not from Singapore.

Lucot also uses a painfully silly technique of cutting to spectators and telling us what they are thinking when, in fact, he has clearly made it up. US sprinting champion Bobby Joe Morrow is shown smiling. Then we see Jesse Owens in the stands smiling and we are told that they are smiling at each other.

There are nice montage sequences of javelin techniques and pole vault techniques. The only sport other than athletics that gets significant coverage is rowing because Lucot seems fascinated by the fact that there are swans in Lake Wendouree, where the events are held.

The film concludes with extended coverage of the marathon, and it is here that Lucot’s cinematic style shines. There is little commentary. Instead there is an excellent jazz score, as the film zeroes in on eventual winner Alain Mimoun of France.

Speaking of Alain Mimoun, the French also produced a charming 22-minute black and white documentary to celebrate his victory. The short intersperses footage from the 1956 marathon with recreations from Mimoun’s life, starting with his childhood in Algeria and his involvement in the Battle of Monte Cassino in January 1944. He was injured in the leg by shrapnel, but recovered the use of his leg, to say the least. In some scenes, Mimoun plays himself, including the emotional moment the day before the marathon when he learns by telegram that his wife has given birth to their first child, a daughter. Not mentioned in the film is that in the two previous Olympics, Mimoun had earned three silver medals, each of them behind Emil Zátopek.

 

1960 – Squaw Valley

One would think with the power of Hollywood, that the United States would have produced Olympic films in 1932, when the Winter Games were held in Lake Placid and the Summer Games in Los Angeles. But they didn’t. This oversight was repeated in 1960, even though the chairman of the Pageantry Committee in charge of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies was none other than Walt Disney. So, the official film of the Squaw Valley Olympics, People, Hopes, Medals, is in German and was directed by an Austrian, sports journalist Heribert Meisel. An English-language version was released with the title Flame in the Snow.

These were the first Olympics to include biathlon competitions and the first in which women competed in speed skating. But we don’t see any of these events. The overwhelming emphasis is on Alpine skiing and figure skating. The six Alpine events are covered in detail, with descriptions of the courses, sidebars about ski waxing, close-ups of the winners and other favorites and montage sequences of crashes in the women’s downhill and the men’s slalom. Considering that many of the skiers compete without helmets, this is a bit disturbing.

The film includes the gold-medal performances in each of the three figure skating disciplines. In a nice touch, coverage of the pairs event focuses on the mothers of the skaters as they watch from the stands.

Coverage of cross-country skiing is limited to the 50-kilometre race, which is unfortunate because the most dramatic event was the 4×10-kilometre relay, the only race in which competitors raced against each other rather than against the clock. Edging ahead in the final strides, Finland’s 35-year-old Veikko Hakulinen crosses the finish line one metre ahead of Håkon Brusveen of Norway.

The Nordic combined event merits more than the usual coverage because it was won unexpectedly by a German, Georg Thoma, breaking a streak of seven victories by Scandinavians going back to the beginning of the Winter Olympics.

We are also shown the tense, come-from-behind victory of the US ice hockey team over the team from the Soviet Union. Not shown in the film is that the Americans still had to win their final match against Finland the following morning, which they did by again coming from behind.

This being a German film, we are treated to some amusing national stereotypes. Americans are described as “stubborn” but with “boundless enthusiasm,” as the US organisers overcome the challenges of a heavy snowstorm before the Opening Ceremony. We are also told that when it comes to fashion, “Taste is a matter of opinion, especially in America.”

During coverage of the Parade of Nations, we are told, bizarrely, that “Swedes like lemons.”

The Games are opened by Vice President (and future president) Richard Nixon. This being California, we see Hollywood celebrities Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Jayne Mansfield and Bing Crosby.

Although it is not included in the IOC/Criterion set, there is another film, 24 minutes long, about the Squaw Valley Olympics, produced by the United States Forest Service. Winter Olympics on the Tahoe National Forest is narrated by Lowell Thomas. The first half deals with preparation of the sites, including avalanche control, while the second half gives an overview of the various sports. If it seems odd that the US government would produce a film about the Olympics, it is worth noting that facilities at Squaw Valley were so limited that the federal government stepped in and provided 25% of the funding for the Games, $20 million, the equivalent of more than $170 million in 2019.

 

1960 – Rome

The Grand Olympiad, directed by Romolo Marcellini, was the first Olympic film to be nominated for an Academy Award. There was only one other nominee in the Best Documentary Feature category, the winner, The Sky Above and the Mud Below. The Grand Olympiad is definitely a cut above previous official Olympic films. It was produced during a golden period for Italian cinema. The following year, another Italian film, Divorce, Italian Style, earned a screenwriting award at the Academy Awards.

The Grand Olympiad is beautifully presented with superb cinematography that juxtaposes panoramic shots with unposed close-ups taken with telephoto lenses. There is even decent coverage of the sporting events themselves. The film does engage in occasional silliness. There are too many shots documenting the suffering of heavyweight weightlifter Eduardo Adriana of the Netherlands Antilles who, by the way, reappeared in the Olympics twelve years later – in a rifle shooting event. The field hockey final between Pakistan and India is compared to a scene from Rudyard Kipling.

The men’s 100 metres is presented from the point-of-view of the eventual gold medal winner, Armin Hary of Germany. But we are forced to endure numerous fictional examples of what Hary is supposed to be thinking. The women’s 100 metres and 200 metres are also shown from the point-of-view of the winner, Wilma Rudolph of the United States. However, the filmmakers limit themselves to giving her personal background and letting the camera reveal her strength and grace, which, for the Italians, earned her the nickname of “The Black Pearl.”

We are informed throughout of the professions of various athletes, a reminder, when viewed in a different era, that in 1960 athletes in most sports still had to make a living somehow. Decathlon winner Rafer Johnson of the United States is referred to as a “philosopher.”

Because it is an Italian film, there is extra coverage of sports in which Italian athletes did well, such as cycling and boxing. Italian boxers won medals in seven of the ten divisions, including three gold. Of heavyweight champion Francesco de Piccoli we are told that “he is afraid only of his mom.” No mention is made of the American boxer who would go on to the greatest fame, 18-year-old light heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, who would later change his name to Muhammad Ali.

Although the football final is not included, the semi-final between Italy and Yugoslavia is. The match ended in a draw and, according to the rules of the time, it was decided by a drawing of lots, which, alas, went the way of Yugoslavia.

The Olympic highlight for Italy is saved for late in the film. Livio Berruti’s victory in the 200 metres is called “the most precious” of Italy’s thirteen gold medals.

Although we are shown some ugly falls in the equestrian three-day event, the fact that two of the horses died is not included.

There are some charming moments. After winning the 400 metres, Otis Davis appears shocked (and thrilled) by his success, which is not surprising considering that he had taken up competitive running only two years earlier and had placed only third at the US Olympic Trials. Representing Romania, Iolanda Balaș wins the high jump easily. But, just to make sure, she sweeps the runway herself before jumping.

As usual with Olympic films, there are captivating montages of gymnasts and divers. Bing Crosby appears again, as he did in the film of the 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held several thousand miles away.

In the men’s 4×100-metre relay, the US team crosses the finish line first, but is disqualified because their first pass was completed outside the zone. But, as the Italians point out, the officials were so preoccupied with studying the photos and evidence regarding the US case that they failed to notice that the team from Great Britain did the same thing. The film presents clear evidence that Britain’s second runner, David Jones, doesn’t secure the baton from Peter Radford until he is outside the passing zone. Indeed, Radford grabs his head in despair. Because of the officials’ error, Great Britain is not disqualified, and we see the British runners receiving the bronze medals that should have gone to the team that finished fourth – Italy.

As it often the case in Olympic films, the marathon is given extended coverage, this time ten minutes’ worth. Indeed, the 1960 marathon is one of the most famous events in Olympic history. Running barefoot, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia became the first black African to win an Olympic event. The filmmakers show one runner collapsing across the finish line and another finishing long after the others. But they remind us that, “Anyone who completes a marathon is a winner.”