The previous night I viewed the Winter Olympics counterpart from the same filmmaker (Jean de Rovera) it only made sense to see the official documentary about the 1924 Summer Olympics from Paris. As there were many more events to cover, this was almost 3 hours long. To echo was was stated in the review for The Olympic Games Held at Chamonix in 1924, who knows how many cameras they had at their disposal and I will be fair in not critiquing how not every sport was filmed as well as they do it today.
At times this did D-R-A-G. Editing and use of footage has advanced in almost 100 years but me-a sports fan in general-thought that some bits felt interminable. Rugby union and especially soccer are examples of what I'm talking about, and I enjoy watching both on TV or in person. The soccer segment was like 20 minutes long and felt like 200. That overall does not diminish my opinion of finding the entirety of this to be interesting... although it just stops after the boxing segment rather than show anything from the closing ceremony-if there was one-or anything else aside from a The End title card. Also, who knew that yachting and rope climbing were once events you could earn medals in?
Speaking as a nerd, I enjoyed seeing how all those events were held and what those sports looked like at the time. Some have advanced more than others; personally I was amused to see the athletes competing in loafers instead of sneakers. In addition, factories are billowing out smoke right by some venues. Slow motion was also used here-if perhaps used a little too often, it was still a nice technical achievement for 1924. As the Summer Olympics has been postponed to next year, it was nice to see some retro action last night, and some famous athletes of the past, such as Finnish runners Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola, who won many medals between the two. Some of the other names will be familiar to film fans: part of a Johnny Weissmuller race is seen and those who remember Chariots of Fire, you can view the real life Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell compete.
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