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Poll

What's your favorite film by Fritz Lang?

Destiny
0 (0%)
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
0 (0%)
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
0 (0%)
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge
0 (0%)
Metropolis
14 (43.8%)
Spies
0 (0%)
Woman in the Moon
1 (3.1%)
M
10 (31.3%)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
0 (0%)
Liliom
0 (0%)
Fury
1 (3.1%)
You Only Live Once
0 (0%)
You and Me
0 (0%)
The Return of Frank James
0 (0%)
Western Union
0 (0%)
Man Hunt
0 (0%)
Moontide
0 (0%)
Hangmen Also Die!
0 (0%)
Ministry of Fear
0 (0%)
The Woman in the Window
0 (0%)
Scarlet Street
1 (3.1%)
Cloak and Dagger
0 (0%)
Secret Beyond the Door
0 (0%)
House by the River
0 (0%)
Rancho Notorious
0 (0%)
Clash by Night
0 (0%)
The Blue Gardenia
0 (0%)
The Big Heat
2 (6.3%)
Human Desire
1 (3.1%)
Moonfleet
0 (0%)
While the City Sleeps
0 (0%)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
0 (0%)
The Tiger of Bengal
0 (0%)
The Indian Tomb
0 (0%)
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
2 (6.3%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 31

Author Topic: Lang, Fritz  (Read 12430 times)

sdedalus

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2012, 03:19:51 PM »
Updated:

1. The Big Heat
2. M
3. Scarlet Street
4. The Indian Epic
5. Metropolis
6. Man Hunt
7. Rancho Notorious
8. Fury
9. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
10. While the City Sleeps
11. You Only Live Once
12. Clash by Night
13. Ministry of Fear
14. Hangmen Also Die!
15. Moonfleet
16. The Woman in the Window
17. Spies
18. The Secret Beyond the Door
19. The Blue Gardenia
20. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
21. Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
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StudentOFilm

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2012, 10:07:53 PM »
Only seen two.

1. Metropolis
2. M
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oneaprilday

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2012, 05:10:39 PM »
I've seen only Metropolis, it was good, but not great.

I've seen only Metropolis and M - both awesome.

verbALs

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2012, 03:13:57 AM »
1. M
2. The Big Heat
3. While The City Sleeps
4. Scarlet Street
5. Beyond A Reasonable Doubt
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roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2012, 10:52:00 PM »
Fury Fritz Lang, 1936

This is Fritz Lang's first American film. It's about Spencer Tracy's innocent basically falling victim to a bunch of cruel coincidences and being accused of being a kidnapper. Sylvia Sidney is the gal who loves him. The film's blistering opening 40 minutes are nothing short of amazing. The way that Lang builds up the inevitability of what happens is astounding; the way that the film neatly does with Tracy's character is superb. The film replaces his characters with the spreading of rumors around town (like Contagion's montages of disease spreading). My favorite bit of business is when Lang fades from a bunch of gossipping old woman to a shot of clucking chickens - so hilarious. After the incredible climax of the first 40 minutes and the amazing shot of Sydney's face as she sees everything goes down, it does lose a bit of steam. The whole trial business is just not as engaging, and the ending is a bit pat. But it does give us those fierce hallucination scenes later on, so it was worth it for that. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a long relationship with the works of Lang!
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 08:14:31 AM by 1SO »

roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2012, 12:12:29 AM »
You Only Live Once Fritz Lang, 1937

Henry Fonda is a young man who's done a few bad things in his life. But he has positive influences in his life. The beautiful Silvia Sydney believes in him and there's a priest at the prison who's supportive as well. But it's hard to make ends meet honestly, and his past continually haunts him. In Lang's vision of the world, fate has a way of trapping innocents and never letting go. This film isn't quite as brutal as Fury, but it's still a bitter pill to swallow. It ends up being a proto-They Live By Night thing where the lovers are on the run and utterly devoted to each other and it's completely heartbreaking. Lang is a great man.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 08:16:09 AM by 1SO »

sdedalus

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2012, 02:46:02 AM »
I don't know about that, but he was a great filmmaker, that's for sure.
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roujin

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #17 on: June 28, 2012, 01:25:32 PM »
You and Me Fritz Lang, 1938

This is an odd, odd movie. George Raft and Silvia Sidney both work at a department store where a bunch of ex-convicts are hired. The owner being someone who thinks that they deserve a second chance. Like in Lang's previous film, You Only Live Once, bad people from the past show up, ready to get everyone back in trouble again. But whereas that film is full of doom (even while all being all beautiful and stuff), this one kinda takes a cock-eyed view of it all. Sidney proves, mathematically, that crime does not pay, the crooks veer into a surreal half-sung reverie of their prison life (all rhythmic tapping and chanting, it's weird), the shadows in certain scenes suggest noir and crime, but it all ends rather redemptively and wonderful. Raft and Sidney trade secret touches (the most beautiful moment in the film, for it's the most private) and You and Me ends up touching the soul of this young roujin (in a decidedly weird manner, of course).
« Last Edit: June 29, 2012, 02:28:29 PM by roujin »

1SO

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Lang, Fritz
« Reply #18 on: November 23, 2013, 07:21:37 PM »
1. Metropolis
2. Scarlet Street

3. M
4. Spies
5. The Big Heat
6. You and Me
7. The Woman in the Window
8. Die Nibelungen: Siegfried
9. The Return of Frank James
10. Ministry of Fear
11. Rancho Notorious
12. Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge
13. Fury
14. Destiny
15. House By the River

16. Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
17. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
18. Human Desire
19. Hangmen Also Die!
20. Western Union
21. The Blue Gardenia
22. The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
23. Woman in the Moon
24. Secret Beyond the Door…
25. Cloak and Dagger
26. Man Hunt
27. Moontide
28. While the City Sleeps
29. The Indian Tomb
30. Clash By Night
31. Tiger of Bengal

32. Moonfleet
33. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
34. You Only Live Once
« Last Edit: January 22, 2021, 07:13:50 PM by 1SO »

1SO

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Re: Director's Best: Fritz Lang
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2014, 07:48:47 PM »
Scarlet Street
* * * 1/2

I first watched this during my initial Noir binge. Not only does it hold up, but it's funnier than I remember. Like American Hustle, it's a series of cons played by actors given a free hand. MartinTeller said it best, "It’s not a place to look for nuanced characterizations… these people are pure archetypes, but they play it to the hilt."

The three leads all come at their con job cover stories with different intentions, so they each use different approaches. Joan Bennett is kind of new at it, so you see her hesitate before deciding to throw in the fake tears during her pitch. (The actress in her character can't resist.) Edward G. Robinson is new to lying so he tries to find an honest, gentlemanly way to do it. Even the apologies for his lies are carried out like an innocent. Lying comes easy to Dan Duryea, which is why he holds it over Bennett - love that he buys her a book of Shakespeare plays because "you're an actress" - however, experience hasn't made him any better at it. He's not smart enough to be clever.

The three liars trip over each others lies, which is where Fritz Lang brings in the suspense. Twists and poorly laid plans doom the lot of them. Eddie can't do anything sneaky without someone walking in the room. Bennett is so lazy her apartments soon become land mines of stockings and cigarettes. The ending still blows, but getting there is a lot of fun, in a demented Fight Club kind of way.

 

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