08 September 2020

Fritz Lang's films, in Germany and the USA


Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was born in Vienna to a Jewish mother, although he was raised as a Cath­olic. Fritz stud­ied civil engin­eering in Vien­na but soon loved café life and art, especially Egon Schiele and Gus­tav Klimt. For some years he travel­l­ed, studying art in Munich and Par­is. In 1914 he joined the Austrian army and spent a year in a Vienna army hospital writing screen­plays in bed.

In 1919 Lang directed his first movie, Half-Caste. In 1920 he work­ed for producer Erich Pommer at Decla Biscop Studio, part of the Germ­an filmmaking giant UFA. And marr­ied screenwriter Thea von Harbou.

German exp­ressionism (post WW1) was a movement char­act­erised by dark shadows, weird angles and distorted id­ent­it­ies. Hysteria and deception reflected the comp­lic­ated German society when the intellectual Weimar Rep­ublic also suff­er­ed high inflation and unemp­loyment.

Through the 1920s Lang made more ambitious films, includ­ing the al­l­egorical melo­drama Destiny (1921) and Dr Mabuse The Gambler (1922). In 1924 he first travelled to film companies in New York and Hollywood.

Lang’s first project back in Germany was the futuristic, expensive masterpiece Metropolis (1927), filmed in 1925-6 for UFA. The plot showed a repressive society with exp­loited workers, lazy rulers and emotionless robots. Lang created his vis­ually detailed films where a camera-process blended shots of miniatures with live action. 

Spies, 1928 (top image)
Gerda Maurus and Willy Fritsch

After the crime film Spies in 1928, Lang returned to science fict­ion for the silent Woman in the Moon (1929). The arrival of talkies in late 1929 produced an artistic blossoming of German film, before the collapse of the Weimar Republic in 1933. M (1931) was a German thriller, famous for its revolut­ion­ary light­ing and horrifying off­screen sound. It was Fritz Lang’s first sound film, starring a chill­ing Peter Lorre. The murderer terr­or­is­ed Berlin, but was fin­ally hunted down by Ber­l­in’s criminal under­world. It was Lang’s greatest international success.

Films from UFA, including Lang’s Metropolis and Josef von Stern­berg’s The Blue Angel (1930), att­racted Hollywood cont­r­acts. Even before 1933, Hollywood had invited several German writ­ers, dir­ectors and stars to migrate. But when Hitler became chanc­el­lor, migration became less ambitious and more survival-focused. After the Reich­stag fire, Austrian Jewish dir­ect­or Billy Wilder fled to Paris, and lived in a hotel near Hungarian-Jewish refugee Peter Lorre.

Next was The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933), a crime thril­ler sequel to Dr Mabuse: The Gambler. The sequel actually was intended as an anti-Nazi statement that equ­ated the German state and Adolph Hitler with crim­in­ality. And thus was promptly banned! Lang met Joseph Goebbels in the Ministry of Propaganda, to appeal the ban on The Testament of Dr Mabuse, but failed. Yet Goebbels had seen Lang’s other films, and offered Lang the pres­t­igious Artistic Dir­ect­orship of UFA. Lang thanked Goebbels, ran home and left Germany that night for Paris. His wife, already a member of the Nazi Party, promptly divorc­ed Lang!

Lang made one film while in France, Liliom (1934), and then acc­ept­ed David Selznick’s offer to direct a film in Hollywood for MGM. Fury (1936) starred Spencer Tracy, an unforg­iv­ing study of mob viol­ence. But it achieved only moderate box-office success.

Fury, 1936
Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney

Germany had been the leading centre of the avant-garde in music, art, film and architecture. But the Nazis viewed Weimar culture with re­ac­tionary disgust. Their response stemmed part­ly from conservative aesthetic taste and partly from their deter­min­ation to use culture as a prop­a­ganda tool against the Jews.

Lang, Wilder and other anti-Nazi exiles brought German exp­ression­ism with them. Then Lang worked with indep­end­ent Americ­an prod­uc­er Wal­t­er Wanger on the grim You Only Live Once (1937). Bas­ed part­ly on the true Bon­nie & Clyde story, it starred Henry Fon­da as an ex-con­vict who was wrong­ly sent­enced to death for murd­er. He broke out of gaol and fled to Canada with his wife.

The few Hollywood films made before 1941 that supported the US ent­ering WW2 often carried German screen credits. So in Sept 1941, a U.S Senate subcommittee investigated whether Hollywood was campaigning to bring the country into WW2 by insert­ing pro-British and anti-German messages into films. An isol­at­ion­ist Senator charged Hollywood with producing 20+ pictures in the last year des­ig­ned to fill Americans with fear that Hitler would invade. Worst still, he noted, many of the studio creatives were Jewish.

Man Hunt, 1941
Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall

Then Man Hunt (1941), based on a thrilling sus­pense novel. Walter Pidgeon starred in the tense drama as an Eng­lish hunter in pre-WW2 Germany who could have ass­ass­inated Hitler. Lang’s clash with producer Darryl F Zan­uck led to the director’s departure from Fox. 

Film noir (40s & 50s), the cinema of the disench­anted, grew out of Express­ionism. European directors, who’d moved to the US, utilised cynical heroes, stark lighting, frequent flashbacks and intricate plots. 

Lang collab­orated with Bertolt Brecht on the independent prod­uct­ion Hangmen Also Die! (1943), a WW2 film about assas­sinating SS leader Rein­hard Heydrich in Prague. The Woman in the Window (1944) was his most night­­­marish drama, starring Edward G Robinson as a married college prof­essor and the woman who was the model in a paint­ing! 

Wild­er’s Double Indemn­ity (1944) was called the quin­t­­essential noir, a nasty tale of a murderous affair. Lang’s next proj­ect, the grip­ping Ministry of Fear (1944), feat­ur­ed Ray Mill­and as a discharged mental patient whose life was endang­ered by double agents and bogus med­ia. Lang directed a string of unconventional noirs alone, populated not by gangsters and detectives, but by psychologically damaged middle-class losers. Lang then reassem­bled his Woman in the Window actors to play in Scarlet Street (1945) about a middle-aged amateur artist who became obsess­ed with a young woman. Otto Prem­inger, an Aust­rian Jewish dir­ector who reached the USA in 1935, followed with Laura and Fallen Angel (both 1945).

Woman in the Window, 1944
Joan Bennett

But after these triumphs, Lang’s career slumped. Cloak and Dagger (1946) and Secret Beyond the Door (1947) were not successful. The Big Heat (1953) unleashed Glenn Ford as a rogue police officer whose wife was killed by a criminal gang and corrupt city offic­ers. The critics were largely un­impressed, but Lang regarded it as his best. 








26 comments:

bazza said...

Purely by coincidence, I have just posted something with a German Expressionist connection!
The amount of talent that fled pre-war Germany is astounding. Wilder and Lang were two of the very best. Lang's films are still very watchable but I wonder if he was aware of his Jewish birth while being brought up as a Catholic?
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s neatly nonchalant Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

Hels said...

bazza

German Expressionism gave Germany such creativity before WW1 that the nation was leading the world in cinema, theatre, art, architecture, music, sculpture and every other field. I loved August Macke and Der Blaue Reiter, and would have loved to have lived in Berlin in the 1920s.

At least until 1933... then like Wilder, Lang and every other thinking actor, artist etc, they left Germany as quickly as possible. Even the Bauhaus, the best academy in German, was forced to close in 1933; all the students and staff left Germany as quickly as they could get a visa out.

Deb said...

Hey Hels

are you still surviving the lockdown? The Big Heat was based on a novel by William McGivern novel in the early 1950s, but I didn’t see the film until my University Film Club showed it. It was well written, well directed and well acted, but I think Edward G. Robinson would have been best in the main role, rather than Glen Ford.

Hels said...

Deb

healthy and well physically, but I am bored to pieces inside the house :(

I had to look up the film in IMD, and read as follows: Dave Bannion is an upright cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. He is tipped off after a colleague's suicide and his fellow officers' suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters' payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster's spurned girlfriend Debby. As Bannion and Debby fall further into the Gangland's insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary to get to the truth.

With facial disfigurement and cigarette burns, it took violence up a notch from the standard gun play of the past, making it grimmer and more realistic, and giving the story more punch. We can thank director Fritz Lang for that.

Dr. F said...

The year after Lang made the Big Heat, he made Human Desire, a film based on a Zola novel but set in mid-America that starred Gloria Grahame, Glenn Ford, and Broderick Crawford. It ranks with his best.

Frank

Parnassus said...

Hello Hels, A long time ago there was a series of silent films on public television that showed many of Lang's early films, so I had an early introduction to them. Since that was a while ago, I would now like to revisit some of them, although for some reason I have been in more of a reading than a watching mood lately.
--Jim

Luiz Gomes said...

Boa noite minha querida amiga. Obrigado pela dica de filme. Uma ótima quarta-feira.

Anonymous said...

Lang was certainly a prolific film maker. I think I have only seen Metropolis.

mem said...

Wow just shows you what immigration can do fro a country's social and cultural capital. I wonder if this ever occurs to to the bigots and isolationists world wide !! Probably not.

Pipistrello said...

Hi Hels, quite coincidentally, last week I signed up to Beamafilm through my library membership and was going to watch Metropolis but became distracted and forgot all about it. I see there are 3 of Lang's films to watch there for free - M, Metropolis and Scarlet Street. Have you seen the terrific tv show "Babylon Berlin", based on the books of Volker Kutscher? It's dubbed, unfortunately, not subtitled, but gives a pretty lurid account of life during the Weimar Republic.

Joseph said...

Too dark for me, back in the day. Now I actually prefer Scandinavian Noir.

Hels said...

Dr F

I didn't know about Human Desire (1954). An IMD review said: Well-done film noir about a railroad engineer, Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford), who gets mixed up with a beautiful femme fatale (Gloria Grahame) who comes complete with husband who has murdered a man in a train car in an act of jealousy - and happens to be one of Warren's co-workers. Meeting her on the train just after the murder, kissing her within moments of meeting, it seemed our railroad man is soon embroiled in a love affair with this woman, who can't break away from her husband as he is holding a piece of murder blackmail over her head. This film is boosted up considerably by the great performance given by Gloria Grahame, who brings a sad vulnerability to her character and really makes this film. Broderick Crawford is also very good, as the angry, murderous husband and Glenn Ford comes across as the handsome, strong, quiet type. This film also features interesting photography and lighting typical of this style of film. A gripping film with a plot that kept me interested from beginning to end.

Hels said...

Parnassus

I know about the preference for reading rather than watching during the long, lonely hours. However the greatest joy about tv programmes is that you can start and stop the footage at your convenience, and you can tape worthwhile films/analyses on IQ to take notes.

Hels said...

Luiz

I see myself as a cultural historian, not a knowledgeable film critic. Thus I am very pleased to analyse Lang's life and works in both nations.

Hels said...

Andrew

that is true for most people, I believe. Metropolis (1927) was Fritz Lang’s perception of a grim futuristic society. And although the storyline was not its most interesting aspect, the film became a model for later works, showing some of the most impressive images in the cinema till then: magnificent set pieces and very special effects.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks for an enjoyable post, Hels! I can see I have a lot of catching up to do. I saw the latest version of Metropolis, with the extra footage, anda new score, at the Astor in Windsor, and was blown away by it! But I really need to see some of the other films.

At my school, VCE students were doing German Expressionism as part of their Media subject, though they were focussing on the horror movies. A fascinating era!

Hels said...

mem

for those German artists, musicians, university scholars, authors and theatre people who survived Nazi Germany from 1933 on and travelled into other countries, the move saved brilliant minds from certain death, of course. But it also enriched the cultural world in France, USA, Britain etc. Isolationists were/are not just racist; they were/are also denying their own country of a treasure of learning and creativity.

Hels said...

Pipistrello

I have not seen the programme "Babylon Berlin", but I have seen the cover of Volker Kutscher's book. The cover was from exactly the right era (1919) and the right style!

Definitely see M, the thriller film starring Peter Lorre and directed by Lang. This was Lang's first sound film. I would also see Scarlet St, but be warned. The New York State Censor Board banned Scarlet Street entirely in 1946, as "obscene, indecent, immoral, inhuman" or whose exhibition "would tend to corrupt morals or incite to crime."

Hels said...

Joseph

Lang was one of the creators and contributirs of Film Noir and a prolific contributor to Film Noir, from Dr Mabuse to the end of the director's career. As I suggested to Pipistrello, see M and Scarlet Street, great examples of Lang’s Noir style.

Perhaps you can create a clear link German Expressionism to Film Noir and then to Scandinavian Noir.

Hels said...

Sue

I am delighted to hear that your VCE students were doing German Expressionism as part of their Media subject. They were focused on the horror movies because it was a media subject. But imagine how fascinating the era would have seemed, had all the German Expressionist professions been studied.

The Weimar Republic (1919-33) might have been a disrupted era, but Germany was the centre of the arts, creativity and experimentation. Years of very exciting developments!

Pipistrello said...

Forewarned, Hels! I shall keep you posted as to how I go. Fingers crossed I don't end up writing to you from the Clink!

Hels said...

Pipistrello

During the years of the Hitler regime, the warm paradise of Southern California was called "Weimar on the Pacific" by right-wingers like J. Edgar Hoover. Filmmakers like Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger survived, but dramatist Brecht and novelist Thomas Mann, who needed the assistance of Lang, were probably most at risk. Note that it wasn't until after WW2 ended that the New York State Censor Board really got stuck in. Then Lang came under the nasty glare of the Communist hunter Joseph McCarthy.

However you will not be corrupted :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Hels - fantastic post ... thank you - I learnt that I need to explore more. I've got Metropolis here on DVD ... but can see his other films would be interesting. Also good to note the Weimar Republic as being so influential. I really enjoyed it ... and I need to be back to check out other aspects. Take care - Hilary

Hels said...

Hilary

The Weimar Republic (1919-33) was mega influential in German learning and culture, but it was doomed to a catastrophic end as Nazism took over. So even if you find Lang's films too dark, it is worth following the careers of clever ex-Germans as they spread their skills to other countries eg Walter Gropius, Wassily Kand­insky, Paul Klee, Josef and Anni Albers, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, László Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Schlemmer, Marianne Brandt etc.

Hank Phillips said...

Thanks for the interesting read. The seesawing between weaponized Positive Christian eugenic altruism and its war-chastened Weimar competitor is eerily reminiscent of the seesawing in today's post-Cold War America... and even Australia.

Hels said...

Hank

Seesawing happens all the time, in:
a) the viewers' own minds,
b) the society at the time the works were produced and
c) the politics of later societies. So I might have been a socialist and peacenick at uni, but a capitalist now.

So historians have a special responsibility in analysing this material.