Fritz Lang & German Expressionism
December 7, 2018–February 23, 2019
Our tribute to this essential director presents his German films alongside other enthralling works of German Expressionist cinema.
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Metropolis
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Dr. Mabuse the Gambler
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Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
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F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu
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Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Past Films
Metropolis
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1926The Complete Version
Friday, December 7 7 PMView DetailsEvil leaders, enslaved citizens, the orgiastic super-rich, and messiah robots populate Lang’s dystopian classic. Now over ninety years old, and still one of the most essential, influential science fiction films of all time.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Robert Wiene
Germany, 19204K Digital Restoration
Sunday, December 9 4:30 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsThe quintessential German Expressionist film translates narrative and psychology into stunning set design.
The Last Laugh
F. W. Murnau
Germany, 1924Saturday, December 15 6 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsA proud hotel doorman falls from grace in Murnau’s classic of German Expressionism, whose roving camerawork and hallucinatory imagery “changed the way that movies were made” (Dave Kehr).
Faust
F. W. Murnau
Germany, 1926Friday, December 28 7 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsMurnau’s version of the Faust legend is a masterwork of chiaroscuro lighting, and helped redefine what black-and-white cinematography could accomplish. Emil Jannings stars as a subtly mischievous Mephistopheles.
The Spiders, Part 1: The Golden Lake
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1919Sunday, December 30 3 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsLang’s extravagant globetrotting serial moves from San Francisco’s Chinatown to Peru and Asia as an adventurer battles the worldwide criminal gang known as The Spiders, led by femme fatale Lio Shia.
The Spiders, Part 2: The Diamond Ship
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1919Sunday, December 30 4:45 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsThe continuation of Lang’s sensational serial, a time capsule of European exotica.
Harakiri
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1919Restored Print
Wednesday, January 9 7 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsLang’s version of Madame Butterfly changes the title character from geisha to noblewoman, and was one of the first European films to depict Japanese culture. “Refreshingly stereotype-free, the film demonstrates that silent film can rival opera in emotional impact” (Tom Vick).
The Golem
Paul Wegener, Carl Boese
Germany, 1920Digital Restoration
Thursday, January 10 7 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsA rabbi in medieval Prague conjures a monster to protect his people from destruction in this visually astounding retelling of the Golem myth, shot by gifted cinematographer Karl Freund (The Last Laugh; Metropolis).
Destiny
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1921Digital Restoration
Sunday, January 13 1 PMBruce Loeb on PianoView DetailsLil Dagover stars as a woman who tries to save her lover from “the weary Death” in this Expressionist fantasy said to have influenced both Douglas Fairbanks and Alfred Hitchcock.
Nosferatu
F. W. Murnau
Germany, 1922Digital Restoration
Friday, January 18 8:30 PMBruce Loeb on PianoView DetailsStill among the most unnerving and poetic of horror films, investing the natural world with eerie incandescence. Max Schreck’s vampire is unforgettable—a living death, a walking ruin.
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Fritz Lang
Germany, 1931Digital Restoration
BAMPFA Student Committee PickThis film is also screening on Wednesday, February 13, 3:10 PM as part of our series In Focus: Writing for Cinema featuring speakers David Thomson and Michael Ondaatje.
Sunday, January 20 2 PMView DetailsA precursor to American noir, Lang’s masterpiece is a terrifying excursion into an urban underworld where there are few moral distinctions between organized crime and organized law enforcement. With Peter Lorre in his definitive performance.
Metropolis
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1926The Complete Version
Thursday, January 24 7 PMView DetailsEvil leaders, enslaved citizens, the orgiastic super-rich, and messiah robots populate Lang’s dystopian classic. Now over ninety years old, and still one of the most essential, influential science fiction films of all time.
The Nibelungen, Part I: Siegfried’s Death
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1924Digital Restoration
Saturday, February 2 4:30 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsLang’s two-part superproduction of the thirteenth-century saga that also inspired Wagner’s Ring cycle is a triumph of studio artifice. “Stunning . . . very highly recommended” (Chicago Reader).
The Nibelungen, Part II: Kriemhild’s Revenge
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1924Digital Restoration
Sunday, February 3 3:30 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsIn its second part, Lang’s epic becomes a terrifying study of barbarism.
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Fritz Lang
Germany, 1931Digital Restoration
BAMPFA Student Committee PickThis film is also screening on Wednesday, February 13, 3:10 PM as part of our series In Focus: Writing for Cinema featuring speakers David Thomson and Michael Ondaatje.
Friday, February 8 8 PMView DetailsA precursor to American noir, Lang’s masterpiece is a terrifying excursion into an urban underworld where there are few moral distinctions between organized crime and organized law enforcement. With Peter Lorre in his definitive performance.
Spies
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1927Digital Restoration
Saturday, February 9 4 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsThe head of an international bank doubles as a criminal mastermind in Lang’s compelling thriller. “Granddaddy of decades of intrigue epics, Spies, in its rigorous austerity, remains the most modern of the bunch” (Village Voice).
Asphalt
Joe May
Germany, 1929Sunday, February 10 4 PMView DetailsA gorgeous petty thief seduces a straitlaced beat cop, and soon both are over their heads in trouble, in Joe May’s technically astounding proto-noir.
Woman in the Moon
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1929BAMPFA Student Committee Pick
Saturday, February 16 7:30 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsLang’s final silent film takes viewers to the moon and back in a fantastical exploration of space travel. Abstract animation pioneer Oskar Fischinger helped create the special effects.
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, Part I: A Portrait of Our Time
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1922Sunday, February 17 1 PMJudith Rosenberg on PianoView DetailsA vicious portrait of post-WWI social breakdown (in fabulous art deco settings). A fiendish mastermind gifted with sinister hypnotic powers, “Mabuse is history’s secret agent” (J. Hoberman).
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, Part II: Inferno, a Play of People in Our Time
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1922Sunday, February 17 4:30 PMBruce Loeb on PianoView DetailsIn Part II, Mabuse descends into madness, but we haven’t seen the last of him!
Liliom
Fritz Lang
France, 1934Friday, February 22 4 PMView DetailsCharles Boyer gives a winning performance as a self-centered carousel operator in this inventive fantasy touched with melancholic poetry.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Fritz Lang
Germany, 1933Imported 35mm Print
Saturday, February 23 4:30 PMView DetailsFrom an insane asylum, the evil Mabuse carries on his international terrorism. Lang shapes an anti-Nazi allegory in the form of a thriller.