 Contemporary journalists and critics pointed to many aspects of the film, most notably the role of gender and sexuality and the fantastical themes as evidence that the film was intended as a counterpoint to Nazi rule.Hippler denied these claims asserting that in “total war”, as outlined in Goebbels’ 1943 Sportspalast speech, “national life becomes weapons” and strengthening the morale of a country was key to the success of the German campaign.Both during and after World War II, the film saw massive commercial and critical success and not only recouped the sizable government investment, but also earned modern praise as being “the greatest German color film of all time” by film historian Eric Rentschler.