There is a very good reason that Cameron is fascinated with Reifenstahl. It’s because she was actually a superb director. The author lists several of her movies, but I wonder if he actually looked at any of them.
She made several dynamic innovations to filmmaking, and was hugely influential in both the very advanced pre-Nazi German film industry, and later, in a secondary way, when many in their film industry fled to the US and ended up in Hollywood.
Directors like Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Fred Zinnemann were all very familiar with Reifenstahl’s techniques and brought them to the US.
And you can see her influence in such movies as The Big Heat, High Noon, and From Here to Eternity.
Yes, but these other movies you mention were not laden with strong environmental themes. It is one thing to borrow advanced techniques, quite another to be in full agreement philosophically, spiritually.