"He prowled the dark corners of the soul, where destiny collided with depravity."-Andrew Sarris
For those who like pulp fiction spiced with thought–provoking political undertones, Fritz Lang in the German years is your man. "Lang anticipated many of the horrors of our age," Andrew Sarris wrote. "If Hitler had never existed, the director would have had to invent him: sooner or later, Lang's masterful megalomaniac Dr. Mabuse would have degenerated into der Führer." In films like M, Dr. Mabuse, and Spies, Lang and his screenwriting wife Thea von Harbou used the thriller format to inscribe a time, post–WWI Germany, in which lawlessness and depravity are the norm–evidenced in the almost casual inclusion of orgies and child prostitution in Dr. Mabuse, but more subtly, in the equation of police and underworld as two sides of the same tarnished coin that is implied in all the films. Lang himself termed the Mabuse films "documentary." At the same time, there is a Feuillade–like comic–book fantasy to a film like Spies that, as Luc Mollet has noted, "owes everything to improvisation and almost nothing to Expressionism, and...strongly resembles modern cinema." Through sheer virtuosity, Lang reveals that evil, like filmmaking, is an art.
In the conclusion of our two–season Lang retrospective, we are pleased to present many restored prints, and in–person appearances by Tom Gunning (September 21), Martin Koerber (October 7), and Anton Kaes (October 13) to illuminate this director whose contributions to cinema are still the subject of fascinating controversy.Judy Bloch, EditorOn Thursday, October 4, the Castro Theater in San Francisco presents Lang's rare 1928 sci–fi fantasy The Woman in the Moon, with musical accompaniment by Dennis James on Wurlitzer organ. Call (415) 621-6120 for details.
The Fritz Lang retrospective is cosponsored by Goethe–Institut Inter Nationes, San Francisco, and presented in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Special thanks to Dr. Dieta Sixt, Ian Birnie, Martin Koerber, Anton Kaes, Ginny Lackner, and Susan Oxtoby.
