30 Years of Brilliance: 1930-1959
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna in 1890 and nobody's oeuvre better embodies the ambitions and anxieties, successes and suspicions of the twentieth century, than his. The German-speaking world's most legendary filmmaker, he is also one of Hollywood's most underrated directors.
At surface level, Lang is best known for his masterful contributions to German Expressionism but, ironically enough, he had to decline directing the first overtly Expressionist film, 'Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari' in 1920 because he was contracted to direct a sequel to 'Die Spinnen,1. Teil-Der Goldene See' in 1919, an action adventure film that had brought him success. Fortunately, the producer of 'The Spiders' financed Lang's Expressionist ballad 'Der Mude Tod' in 1921, which brought him huge acclaim throughout Europe.
In 1921, Lang and his second wife, screenwriter Thea Von Harbou, initiated a series of films around the character of Doctor Mabuse, 'Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler-Ein Bild der Zeit' in 1922 and its sequels were complex,action-packed films filled with spies, betrayal, chases, and gadgets, predating James Bond movies by decades. The success allowed Lang and Bon Harbou to initiate an Expressionist adaptation of the mythlogical 'Nibelungen saga in two parts, 'Die Nibelungen: Siegfried' in 1924 and 'Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache'' in the same year, and eventually led to their most ambitious project, 'Metropolis' in 1927.
In production for two years, and with a cast of thousands, 'Metropolis' was too abmbitious to achieve success, and its politics of class collaboration through semi-messianic intervention were too muddled to be fully appreciated. But its imagery of a futurist city filled with skyscrapers, Moloch-like factories, and a sexy female robot called Maria, painted such a powerful dystopian picture of society that it was imprinted into the collective consciousness, and has been a model for science-fiction cinema ever since.
That rise had personal consequences for Lang. After Hitler's takeover, he was forced to flee Germany, leaving his wife, a dedicated Nazi party member, behind. Lang arrived in Hollywood, where his first US film 'Fury' in 1936, is a fitting elaboration on 'M'; this time the accused is innocent and the mob rule is portrayed as viciously wrong.
Lang's Hollywood career was mostly confined to genre films, often from Poverty Row, but he still established a remarkable oeuvre. The early film noir'You Only Live Once' in 1937, the war thrillers 'Man Hunt' in 1941 and 'Hangmen Also Die!' in 1943, and the dark espionage mystery 'Ministry of Fear' in 1944, illustrated how motives such as suspicion, accusation, and paranoia now received full exposure. Following the end of World War II, Lang shifted to psychologically more complex thrillers, such as 'Scarlet Street' in 1945 and 'Beyond a Reasonable Doubt' in 1956. He then returned to Germany where, before retiring, he directed 'Die 1999 Augen des Dr. Babuse' in 1960, which predicted the onset of a surveillance Society.
As tempting as it is to equate German film history with Fritz Lang's cinema, it reduces his significance. Beyond one nation's scope, Lang's continuous investigations into abuse of power are pertinent for everyone.
