The Films of Fritz Lang: Interesting Article on Fritz Lang

Short bio of Fritz Lang

TCM is showing a sampling of his work. There are several glaring omissions: No "Metropolis"; no "M", no "Secret Beyond the Door", no "Scarlet Street", no "Moonfleet", etc. etc. I haven't seen any of the Mabuse films, either, and would like to.

Hangmen Also Die (1943)
When a Nazi officer is assassinated, Czech patriots band together to protect his killer.
Cast: H. H. v. Twardowski, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee Dir: Fritz Lang BW-134 mins, TV-14 [Email Remind Me]

5:30am [Drama] Human Desire (1954)
An unhappy wife seduces a veteran into helping her get rid of her husband.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Edgar Buchanan Dir: Fritz Lang BW-91 mins, TV-PG [Letterbox] [Email Remind Me]

7:30am [Romance] Clash By Night (1952)
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband's best friend.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe Dir: Fritz Lang BW-105 mins, TV-PG [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

9:30am [Drama] Fury (1936)
An innocent man escapes a lynch mob then returns for revenge.
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot Dir: Fritz Lang BW-93 mins, TV-G [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

11:30am [Western] Western Union (1941)
An outlaw goes straight to work for the telegraph company, which puts him in conflict with his lawless brother.
Cast: Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger, Virginia Gilmore Dir: Fritz Lang C-95 mins, TV-PG [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

1:30pm [Suspense/Mystery] Blue Gardenia, The (1953)
A telephone operator kills in self-defense but can't remember the details of the encounter.
Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr Dir: Fritz Lang BW-88 mins, TV-PG [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

3:15pm [Crime] Big Heat, The (1953)
A police detective whose wife was killed by the mob teams with a scarred gangster's moll to bring down a powerful gangster.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby Dir: Fritz Lang BW-90 mins, TV-14 [Email Remind Me]

I recommend "Clash by Night" and "The Big Heat"

Here's Wiki: "While recovering from his injuries and shell shock in 1916, he wrote some scenarios and ideas for films. He was discharged from the army with the rank of lieutenant in 1918 and did some acting in the Viennese theater circuit for a short time before being hired as a writer at Decla, Erich Pommer's Berlin-based production company. His writing stint was brief, as Lang soon started to work as a director at the German film studio Ufa, and later Nero-Film, just as the Expressionist movement was building. In this first phase of his career, Lang alternated between art films such as Der Müde Tod (Destiny, literally "Tired Death") and populist thrillers such as Die Spinnen (Spiders), combining popular genres with Expressionist techniques to create an unprecedented synthesis of popular entertainment with art cinema. In 1920, he met his future wife, the writer and actress Thea von Harbou. She and Lang co-wrote all of his movies from 1921 through 1933, including 1922's Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler), which ran for four hours in two parts in the original version and was the first in the Dr. Mabuse trilogy, 1924's Die Nibelungen, the famed 1927 masterpiece Metropolis, and the 1931 classic, M, his first "talking" picture.
Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou in their Berlin flat, 1923 or 1924

Although some consider Lang's work to be simple melodrama, he produced a coherent oeuvre that helped to establish the characteristics of film noir, with its recurring themes of psychological conflict, paranoia, fate and moral ambiguity. His work influenced filmmakers as disparate as Jacques Rivette and William Friedkin. In 1931, between Woman in the Moon and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse, Lang directed what many film scholars consider to be his masterpiece: M, a disturbing story of a child murderer (Peter Lorre in his first starring role) who

 

They are clearing concentrating on his Hollywood work. Lovely sure, but that list leaves off most of the important films! Seriously, no M??? That film is a must for any review of his work. Also, no Metropolis really is a mistake.

 

Also none of the silent Wagnerian films, which I would also like to see.

 

Here's the strange thing to me. I've only seen two of Lang's films, some of his most famous ones, Metropolis and M. Where did I see both of them? TCM! So it's not like they don't have access to them.

 

I saw them there, too. It doesn't make sense not to go with the director's best.

 

It wouldn't make sense, unless they can't do it due to the cost or terms of their lease on the broadcasting rights.

 

M and Metropolis are two great ones by him. It's doubly odd that those aren't here, given the presence of Western Union which is a terrible movie; completely without energy. I actually had no idea Lang directed it. Weird.

 

I've only seen Metropolis, but I instantly fell in love with it. Beautiful film!

 

On TCM Sunday morning:

6:00am [Suspense/Mystery] Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)
A novelist frames himself for murder to prove the fallibility of circumstantial evidence.
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, Arthur Franz Dir: Fritz Lang BW-80 mins, TV-PG

 

That's a pretty good Lang noir, despite of (or perhaps because of) its low budget. I can't say too much about it because of possible spoilers, but there's some good twists and turns in the story that make it a lot of fun.

 

It has a *great* plot, and unfortunately, as you say, a bargain basement production, as well as a passe cast.

 

John Wesley Downey discovered this 5-part interview of Fritz Lang by William Friedkin on YouTube. He notified me--thanks, JWD!--and here's the first one.

It covers Lang's very early life.

Interview of Fritz Lang, Part #1

 

With his eye patch, pale skin and crusty, cynical demeanor, Lang reminds me a lot of a European John Ford.

Parts of the interview are a little slow but they give you an idea of what experiences informed this guy's talent and career and as it goes on, it gets quite dicey as he discusses his conflicts with Nazi censors.

 

Starting now on TCM:

Fury (1936)

An innocent man escapes a lynch mob then returns for revenge.

Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot Dir: Fritz Lang BW-93 mins, TV-G

 

For intrepid Lang fans, here's the second part of Fritz Lang interview with Director William Friedkin.

He briefly discusses Metropolis and how many of the effects of the film couldn't be accomplished in the film labs of the time, they had to be done "in camera" on the set.

He discusses his disgust with the film's line "the head and the hand must be connected by a heart."

He begins to talk about "M" at the end.

Lang Part 2

 

Thank you; I was finding it difficult to find an anglophone version of this.

 

Lang is world-weary, but I sense he's trying--at least--to be candid. Unfortunately, Friedkin seems frequently clueless.

 

3:30am [Suspense/Mystery] Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)

"A novelist frames himself for murder to prove the fallibility of circumstantial evidence.
Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, Arthur Franz Dir: Fritz Lang BW-80 mins, TV-PG"

A very interesting film, somewhat done in by a downmarket cast.

 

Now I have something to do at 3:30 in the morning

 

17 Friday
6:00 AM Man Hunt (1941)
An Englishman goes behind enemy lines to assassinate Hitler. Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC

 

2:00am [Western] Rancho Notorious (1952)

A cowboy infiltrates a bandit hideout in search of his girlfriend's killer.

Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy, Mel Ferrer, Gloria Henry Dir: Fritz Lang C-89 mins, TV-G [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

 

11:15am [Crime] They Live by Night (1949)
After an unjust prison sentence, a young innocent gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape.
Cast: Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva, Jay C. Flippen Dir: Nicholas Ray BW-96 mins, TV-PG [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

6:15pm [Crime] While The City Sleeps (1956)
Reporters compete to catch a serial killer.
Cast: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff Dir: Fritz Lang BW-100 mins, TV-PG [Close Captioned] [Email Remind Me]

 

8:00 PM Metropolis (1927)
In this silent film, a city of the future is threatened with destruction when a wealthy corporate leader enlists a mad scientist to put down labor reformers. Cast: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein-Rogge. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-149 mins, TV-PG

11:00 PM Metropolis Refound (2010)
C-47 mins, , Letterbox Format

12:00 AM Spione (1928)
C-143 mins,

2:30 AM M (1931)
The mob sets out to catch a child killer whose crimes are attracting too much police attention. Cast: Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Grundgens. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-111 mins, TV-14

4:30 AM Woman In The Window, The (1944)
A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder. Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-99 mins, TV-G

 

Metropolis and M are masterworks. Any director would be happy with having directed just one of them. The Woman in the Window I've always wanted to see, but never gotten too. Spione I've never heard of.

 

Other of Lang's silent films. Haven't seen it either.