Fritz Lang

  • Fritz Lang – Das Indische Grabmal AKA The Indian Tomb (1959)

    1951-1960AdventureClassicsFritz LangGermany

    Synopsis:
    Harald Berger and his Indian lover, the temple dancer Seetha, desperately flee from the shikaris (cavalry) of Eschanapur’s maharajah Chandra, who burn a whole village just for letting them pass invoking traditional hospitality. A spider weaves a web so the trackers won’t look for them in a Shiva temple, but she is caught outside, he left for dead after a steep fall into a crocodile-infested water. Meanwhile his sister Irene and brother-in-law Dr. Walter Rhode, the architect who refuses to build a tomb to bury Seetah alive for scorning the ruler’s love before the hospital he was asked for, guess the truth, and try to make their assigned Indian servant Asagara talk, who dreads incriminating his sovereign.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – You and Me (1938)

    1931-1940Film NoirFritz LangMusicalUSA

    The last installment of Lang’s “social trilogy,” You and Me (preceded by Fury and You Only Live Once) was an ambitious experiment but ultimately a box-office failure. A studied attempt to craft a socially conscious satire in the tradition of Brecht’s didactic plays, the film—produced by Lang himself for Paramount—presents the story of a progressive department-store owner who employs ex-convicts, some of whom have not quite reformed. Although Lang’s directorial sleight of hand is visible everywhere, the film slips between the registers of drama and comedy in ways that may have perplexed contemporary audiences.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – Spione aka Spies (1928)

    1921-1930Fritz LangGermanySilentThrillerWeimar Republic cinema

    Synopsis: Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German “thriller” director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi’s ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another. The film was co-scripted by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou. – Hal Erickson (AMG)Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – You and Me (1938)

    Fritz Lang1931-1940CrimeDramaUSA

    Quote:
    An altruistic department-store owner hires ex-convicts in order to give them a second chance at life. Unfortunately, one of the convicts he hires recruits two of his fellow ex-convicts in a plan to rob the store.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – House by the River (1950)

    1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsClassicsFilm NoirFritz LangUSA

    Quote:
    A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother’s help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse AKA The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) (HD)

    1951-1960CrimeFritz LangGermanyMystery

    Quote:
    In 1960s Germany, criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse uses hypnotized victims and the surveillance equipment of a Nazi-era bugged hotel to steal nuclear technology from a visiting American industrialist.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – Der Tiger von Eschnapur AKA The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959)

    1951-1960AdventureFritz LangGermany

    Quote:
    In Eschnapur, a German architect saves the life of the Maharajah’s favorite temple dancer and becomes Maharajah’s friend but their friendship is tested when the architect and the dancer fall in-love, triggering the Maharajah’s vengeful ire.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – Man Hunt (1941)

    1941-1950Fritz LangThrillerUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    British hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.Read More »

  • Fritz Lang – Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

    1941-1950Film NoirFritz LangUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    Set in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation, Hangmen Also Die depicts an Eastern Europe populated by spies, traitors and revolutionaries…a deadly funhouse of political intrigue in which every personal encounter brings with it the threat of betrayal.
    Pursued by the Germans after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Dr. Svobonda (Brian Donlevy) enlists the aid of a young woman (Anna Lee) who is oblivious to the lethal crosscurrents that surround her. As she learns more about the mysterious doctor, she grows aware of the involvement of her father (Walter Brennan) and fiance (Dennis O’Keefe) in the resistance, and soon finds herself entangled in the revolution’s secret operations.Read More »

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