Customer Reviews

Queen of the Ice Sonja Henie [VHS]

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Fascinating study into the skating world's first superstar. This documentary film, rich in vintage footage (including Henie's home movies) gives insight into Henie's life as a spoiled little girl in her father's grip, her overbearing mother, her love of the Hollywood lifestyle, her failed marriages, her ambitious, manipulative personality, and her battle against loneliness. Sonja was 100% pure ego. The documentary's clips are worth the price -- they include interviews with her loyal secretary, her skating friends and even co-star Cesar Romero. The clips of Sonja at the 1936 games in the presence of Adolph Hitler -- who adored her -- shed light on her ambivalent attitude toward the Nazi's and on Sonja's role during the war and Norway's reponse to it. The saddest anecdote came in a clip of a long-retired Sonja at the 1964 Olympic Games (several years before her death) in an a Sunset Boulevard Norma Desmond-like moment: the forgotten star is giving an interview, hoping the public remembers her, but although the photographer's flashed their bulbs, the cameras had no film. Sad.

If you're interested in the history of figure skating -- or just one of the most successful women in Hollywood in the 40's -- this video is truly enjoyable and enlightening.