Word: lange
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...pantheon of great directors, Fritz Lang is a bit of an anomaly. Unlike his contemporary Alfred Hitchcock, who was canonized early on and remains a universally acknowledged god of cinema, Lang’s road to directorial fame was an oblique one. Although denounced by Siegfried Kracauer as a fascist in the forties, and then heralded by the French Cahiers du Cinema as an amateur in the sixties, his work has received a surprising dearth of critical attention. It has only been in the last few years that critics have begun to exhume many of his films and give...
...Fritz Lang was born in Vienna in 1890 and died in California in 1976. He lived through two world wars, successfully transitioned from silent films to sound films and, after fleeing the Nazis, managed to start his cinematic life all over again in America. Rivaled only by director Howard Hawks in his ability to work in every genre, Lang directed hundreds of films that ranged from musical comedy to western to police drama. His long career spanned many decades and transcended many difficulties. And yet his cinematic vision remained relatively consistent. Throughout his life, he bemoaned the helplessness...
Metropolis is the film that Fritz Lang is best known for. Premiered in 1927, this incredibly ambitious and technologically innovative vision of futuristic purgatory practically bankrupted UFA, the enormous German film studio. The extraordinary beauty of Lang’s expressionistic city and the brilliant special effects of Eugen Schuefftan, overpower the argument that belittles Metropolis for its excessively maudlin, and at times incongruous plot. Metropolis was one of the first true science fiction movies, and its influence on films such as Alphaville and Blade Runner is very apparent. Lang’s Marxian depiction of capitalism and industrialism gone...
...forces of death, or destiny, is based on a Grimms fairy tale, and is in the German romantic tradition. Dr. Mabuse captures the essence of post-war despair and is a commentary on the dangers of political power. Dr. Mabuse is a master of disguises, and through him, Lang reveals the deceptive power of the cinema. Die Nibelungen had a large impact on Eisenstein and uses symbolism to convey the epic tale of Siegrfied and Brunhild
When the Nazis came to power in the 30s, they wanted Lang to help them produce fascist propaganda. Lang, however, left Germany, and settled in Hollywood. Professor Rentschler sees this act as proof that the accusation that Lang was a Nazi sympathizer is a false one. He says, “Lang left Germany at a considerable personal cost and went into exile, settling in Hollywood to become a founding member of the Anti-Nazi film League. In that regard he is unlike many other German filmmakers (including his wife Thea von Harbou) who stayed in the Reich and whose...