THE LANG SILENTS

Martin Slidel’s reviews of the silent movies directed by Fritz Lang.



THE SPIDERS: PART 1: THE GOLDEN LAKE (1919)

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Decla Film / Dir. Fritz Lang

An engrossing adventure-mystery steered by charismatic lead Carl de Vogt. A ‘national film archive’ restoration currently available on YouTube, thank goodness, boasts a fitting and admirable score by Ben Model. Its view of a contemporary Yachting Club alone is intriguing. A fantastic and fantastical escapade which one hundred years later keeps you glued to the screen and your seat. This is not Lang’s debut – but follows two lost films.

The action and excitement plays-out in a series of clever plot twists via scenes of Mexico. Save for brief snatches of silent familiarity – the bad cut between inconsistent scenes (such as an awkward junket of a horse chase) – it is masterfully shot and edited. Something of a distant forerunner of 007. Part 1 partially resolves in a mythical Incan landscape very beautifully filmed – but terrifyingly too; Lang toying with the concept of human sacrifice. The last battle itself is carnage, a Langian parable on the true price of greed.

Then again. Hell hath no fury…

HARAKIRI (1919)

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Decla Film / Dir. Fritz Lang

Lang’s version of ‘Madame Butterfly’ is marked by basic flaws. O-Take-San portrayed by the wonderful though non-Japanese actor Lil Dagover who, granted, lights-up the screen. Despite lavish sets and location shots it’s a little like Hitch’s referral to ‘Juno and the Paycock’ as a “photograph of a play” with just a touch of something more – in that it is very beautifully photographed. The albeit cliched shots of willows, punts, and lanterns, are nevertheless exquisite. Contemporaneously, an attractive score by Aljoscha Zimmermann, for the Nederlands Filmmuseum restoration, is far removed from Puccini.

Lil Dagover

Lang is not in full-rein of his creative powers. Unlike Mauritz Stiller, in example, born of innate insight. It is often as if Lang is going through the motions; proceedings appearing routine. As much as is relayed in the plot, there is a sense of containment; of needing to break free. In this sense, there is something integral in Lang’s craft. He is able to balance the existential ‘opposites’ (or equals) of West and East. It is a story told with sensitivity and tenderness; its insightful parallelism concerning a perceived ‘coolness’ in both cultures. The pivotal farewell remorseless and heart-breaking.

This is far from Lang’s greatest effort and yet somehow, still, adds to this fabled tale. Unabashedly brutal, it accentuates the arrogance of Western Capitalist entitlement. Its emotive conflict, a recognisable reference-point of Langian darkness – of the brutality of one human to another – due or because of love. These inevitable entanglements become more engrossing as the film progresses, allowed to grow darker and bleaker. The outcome, if predictable and knowing, is devastating.

THE SPIDERS: PART 2: THE DIAMOND SHIP (1920)

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Decla Film / Dir. Fritz Lang

Part 2 of ‘The Spiders’ bears the already familiar Langian urban shots, interior and exterior. Filmed from above or on high at a wide angle, and setting-up maze-like propositions. Lang is, at his beginnings, engaged with the concept of the city as a labyrinth and a trap. The sets and photography are as much characters as the actors, all integrated as part of the visual narrative. The camera relentlessly gravitates to Carl de Vogt and his astonishingly ‘cinematic’ face, also lit from above to accentuate his ‘brooding’ features.

Like many sequels, this is not as good as Part 1. A touch seedier, shadier, and shabbier, than its predecessor. (It is not in sequence of making but follows an adaptation of ‘Madame Butterfly’ – 1919’s ‘Harakiri’.) However, there is much of note of Lang’s directorial progression. Following a dramatic police raid, the viewer is pulled into a literal ‘underground’ of a subterranean Chinatown, alongside displays of carefully constructed thespian choreography. A nightmarish twist holds the protagonist captured in a flooded cell, not amiss in James Bond.

The story trundles along, though diverting for an ‘episode’ to Indian spiritualism. There are beautiful shots at sea and of the titular ‘Diamond Ship.’ The subterranean world at the start is later mirrored by caves in the Falklands. And, again, the score by Ben Model works pleasingly. Overall, the film feels overlong and overplayed. Dare I mention it could benefit from serious editing. ‘Spiders 1’ is a better instalment which stands in its own right. Nevertheless, when the hero finally uncovers the lost stone is a moment of excitement. A terrific punch-up, indubitably, follows. And a neat-ish plot twist at ‘The End’ rounds things-off well enough.