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Film: Der Tiger von Eschnapur / Das Indische Grabmal
Year of production: 1959
UK Release date: 18th April 2011
Distributor: Eureka!
Certificate: PG
Running time: 201 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walter Reyer, Claus Holm, Luciana Paluzzi
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Romance/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country of Production: West Germany/France/Italy
Language: German
Review by: Tim Molton
In 1921, Joe May, an Austrian-born film director took the reigns on a project titled Das Indische Grabmal (The Indian Tomb) for which the screenplay was co-written by Fritz Lang and his then wife, Thea Von Harbou. Almost forty years later, Lang himself returned to Germany to direct a more visually aesthetic and modernised remake of this production, dividing the film into two separate adventures, Der Tiger von Eschnapur (The Tiger of Eschnapur) and Das indische Grabmal (The Indian Tomb).
The film begins with the German architect Harald Berger (Paul Hubschmid) travelling through India en route to Eschnapur. On his journey, he meets the beautiful young dancer Seetha (Debra Paget). We soon learn that both Harald and Seetha have been commissioned by the ruler of Eschnapur, Chandra the Maharaja (Walter Reyer), for their differing skills. Harald has been requested in Eschnapur to build a temple for the Maharaja and Seetha to dance in the Maharaja’s presence.
When a tiger attacks the carriage in which Seetha and her servant are travelling, Harald’s heroics earn him the eternal gratitude and friendship of Chandra, and the love of Seetha. It soon becomes evident, however, that the Maharaja too has deep feelings for Seetha, and has invited her to the Palace in order to acquire her admiration and, subsequently, her hand in marriage.
When Chandra’s devious brother Prince Ramigani (Rene Deltgen) becomes aware of his intention to marry Seetha, he sees it as an opportunity to overthrow the Maharaja, and so begins his underhand scheming in an attempt to win over the support of the various disapproving factions within the Palace.
The Maharaja inevitably learns, however, that Harald and Seetha have been having a secret affair behind Chandra’s back. He consequently realises that despite his most humble and sincere efforts, Seetha’s heart belongs to Harald. Chandra’s love for Seetha, and indeed his admiration and respect for Harald, both quickly diminish upon this realisation, until all that remains is a deep and bitter hatred for both.
When Harald and Seetha flee the Palace in order to escape persecution at the hands of Chandra, a fleet of soldiers is sent to seek them out. Their instructions are to return Seetha to Chandra, and to kill Harald.
Harald’s sister Irene Rhode (Sabine Bethmann) and her husband Dr Walter Rhode (Claus Holm), also architects, arrive at the Palace to further assist the Maharaja with his plans, just as Harald and Seetha have escaped. Chandra informs them that the plans have changed and that they will now be building a tomb for Seetha. As Harald and Seetha escape into the desert, their demise is quickly sought by the bitter Maharaja, whilst Irene and Dr. Rhode try to discover their whereabouts, and save them both from execution…
When Fritz Lang took the decision to return to Germany in the late 1950s and direct the film he had co-written many years prior, it was evident that there would need to be some significant changes in order for the movie to be a success. Firstly, Joe May’s 1921 feature was a silent film; not a common characteristic of movies released in the 1950s. Secondly, the film lasted approximately three-and-a-half hours, which was no longer an endurable timeframe for contemporary audiences.
Lang, therefore, created the film as he had envisioned, by dividing the script into two separate features (now known collectively as The Indian Epic) and by using distinctive sound and music to compliment the beautiful, vibrant imagery. These decisions were, in reality, a necessity if the films were ever to be a success, but nevertheless Lang’s skill in executing these decisions should not be understated.
The screenplay itself, co-written by his wife Thea von Harbou, is comparable to many infamous Shakespearian plays, in that it contains all of the ingredients necessary for an enthralling adventure feature, including jealousy, betrayal, tragedy and, of course, love. Lang must be given a great deal of credit here for not only creating a brilliant storyline, but also for refusing to filter out any of the scenes in an attempt to reduce either the expense or the running time of the production.
The pace of the film is very much dictated by the tempo of the music, and whilst this may be an obvious way for viewers to predict the tone and even the outcome of each scene, it generally has the desired effect. Audiences may occasionally let their minds wander and lose interest momentarily when the music is slow and the scene apparently stagnant, but, likewise, they will find it very difficult not to feel a rush of excitement when the pace of music increases or the beat of the drum gets louder.
The imagery and backdrops used by Lang are as beautiful as the focal character herself. Whilst evidently studio sets are used for many of the scenes, the utilisation of palaces and temples in India provides the film with an almost other-worldly and enchanting feeling. Such settings contribute not only to the aesthetics, but also to the plot itself, as the continuing theme that magical things can occur in India becomes ever more convincing throughout.
The characters are excellently cast, and each is played to its full potential.
Hubschmid portrays the love-stricken and heroic architect brilliantly, and in such a way that audiences will take an instant liking to him. He is seen to be strong and brave, yet vulnerable to the charming and seductive Seetha.
Debra Paget, despite her lines being dubbed, is perfectly suited to the role of Seetha, the sensual dancer who falls for Harald. Indeed, the theme of eroticism, which is so ever-present in Lang’s work, is never more evident nor captivating than when Paget dances to the beats of the Indian drums. Although her acting is largely faultless throughout, it is her dancing that will be remembered from this feature, performing two of the most erotic and captivating dances seen on film during this period.
The film won’t be to everybody’s taste, purely because it was released so long ago - the quality of the feature is always going to be reduced, whether because of the special effects, the stunts or for many other reasons. However, Lang has directed a feature which relies not merely on special effects, but rather a fantastically compelling script, seductive arts and fine performances from the cast.
This is a very difficult feature to fault, particularly given that it was written prior to 1920, released in 1959 and still contains all of the ingredients which appeal to a modern day audience. It is not only visually engrossing, but also an intelligently woven script, which contains as much charm, seduction and edge-of-the-seat excitement as the Temple of Doom. Highly recommended. TMO
Fritz Lang returned to Germany on the eve of the 1960s to direct this enchanted penultimate work, a redraft of the diptych form pioneered in such silent Lang classics as Die Spinnen; Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler; and Die Nibelungen. Although no encapsulating title was lent at the time of release to what is, effectively, a single 3-hour-plus film split in two, the work that has come to be referred to in modern times as "the Indian epic" (consisting of Der Tiger von Eschnapur and Das indische Grabmal) proved to be one of the legendary director's most adventurous achievements. It was also one of the most popular successes Lang was to experience in his native land.
A German architect (Paul Hubschmid) is commissioned by an Indian maharaja (Walter Reyer) to construct a temple on his palatial grounds. After saving the life of a bewitching dancer (Debra Paget), on whom the maharaja has spousal designs, the pair are drawn into a hazardous maze of traps, perhaps the purest realisation of Lang's obsession with a labyrinthine 'house of traps' – that is, Man challenging Fate.
Like Lang's following final work, Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse, the Indian epic charts new territory for the director, as it strikes out into the über-melodramatic tenor of his early silents while instigating the colours of his emulsion into adopting a lurid, sometimes gaseous palette. Arriving in the wake of The River (Renoir), India matri bhumi (Rossellini) and Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger), it also stands among the remarkable mid-century contributions of the greatest Western filmmakers who have explored India.
This release features beautiful, newly restored transfers of the films in their original 1.37:1 aspect ratio; two soundtracks: the native German-language track, and the English-language dubtrack made for overseas distribution; newly translated optional English subtitles; and is packaged with a lengthy booklet containing an essay on the films by Lang scholar Tom Gunning (The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and Modernity); excerpts from interviews with Fritz Lang about the film; and more!
Film: Der Tiger von Eschnapur / Das indische Grabmal
Release date: 18th April 2011
Certificate: PG
Running time: 203 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walter Reyer
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Romance/Thriller
Studio: Eureka!
Format: DVD
Country: West Germany/France/Italy
DVD Special Features:
•
New and exclusive feature-length audio commentaries, for both Der Tiger von Eschnapur and Das indische Grabmal, by film scholar David Kalat
•
20-minute documentary on the making of the Indian epic
•
Three minutes of vintage 8mm footage shot on location by actress Sabine Bethmann
•
The original French trailers for both Der Tiger von Eschnapur and Das indische Grabmal
Film: Man Hunt
Release date: 31st January 2011
Certificate: PG
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Walter Pidgeon,
Joan Bennett, George Sanders
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: USA
This is an English-Language release.
In June 1941, the United States was still reluctant to be drawn into the conflicts raging in Europe and Asia; it’s hard to imagine, therefore, how their cinema audiences reacted to Austrian born Fritz Lang’s controversial film Man Hunt, based on Geoffrey Household’s novel ‘Rogue Male’, especially as Hollywood’s self-censorship board already strongly objected to the picture’s supposed lack of balance.
Alan Thorndike (Pidgeon), dressed in full hunter garb, clutches a powerful rifle in his hand; he has in his sights a target that needs no introduction: Hitler, relaxing at his mountain retreat. Thorndike pulls the trigger, but no shot rings out, because this is a ‘sporting shoot’ - the thrill is all in the chase.
Loading the gun with a real bullet, Thorndike is discovered by a guard, who beats him unconscious. Awaking in the custody of Major Quive-Smith (Sanders), he is threatened with torture unless he falsely confesses to being an assassin sent by the British government.
Refusing and left for dead, Thorndike escapes with the help of a cabin boy aboard a Danish hauler. Safely back in London, he is still pursued by the adversary, but a chance meeting with prostitute Jerry Stokes (Joan Bennett) gives him the upper hand, and maybe another reason to survive…
It’s certainly worth pointing out that Lang had been Germany’s leading filmmaker (Metropolis, M) before he ditched the country, along with his wife Thea Von Harbou, a party member of the Nazis, in 1934. His views could easily have been forced down the throats of movie-goers (he went on to make four anti-Nazi films), but instead he concentrated on storytelling, and although the resulting film must’ve given him great pleasure, Man Hunt still captivates not because of hindsight, but because of its substance, structure and style.
The opening scene isn’t as powerful as it would’ve been back in the 1940s but it’s still a fascinating trigger, merely because it could’ve taken the script into realms of fantasy Lang wasn’t afraid to explore. That’s not to say it’s a disappointing outcome, even if time gone by suggests Thorndike’s decision-making leaves a lot to be desired.
The slow and deliberate introduction is arguably the film’s finest moment, ruined slightly by the sudden cutaway during Thorndike’s scuffle with the soldier. Starting so well is obviously a problem, because what you’re left with is Pidgeon’s character being hunted and harassed whilst he does everything in his power to avoid confrontation. But, other than an impressively tense scene in the Underground, there’s little here that rivals the thrills of the opening gambit.
Luckily, Joan Bennett manages to solve such a problem with a character that annoys and delights in equal measure – that is, until she finally manages to win the audience over with an innocence that rivals Hepburn. With her infuriating cockney accent long since forgotten, replaced by an impassioned presence difficult to resist (especially for Lang, who would hire her for another three roles), Bennett turns this controversial thriller into a will-they-won’t-they-get-together romantic drama, with an ending more Roman Holiday than Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
Walter Pidgeon, tall, dark and handsome, also excels as the leading man, and although he frustrates at times, with his character’s inability to recognise a gorgeous woman when she’s standing in front of him, misunderstood prostitute or not, he does ooze charm and much comedic Englishness. So much so, a seemingly worthless scene in which Bennett and Pidgeon eat fish and chip has more chemistry dripping off the screen than grease soaking the newspaper it was wrapped in. A shame, then, that Thorndike would rather read the headlines.
As would Lang, who throughout decides to let the audience think the worst rather than show it. A scene involving Thorndike, being grilled post beating, is strange because there is one long static shot of the chief tormentor, while other characters are mere silhouettes, and only a shadow of the chair Thorndike is strapped into protruding the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It’s a bit like having rubbish theatre tickets, with a pillar obstructing half of the stage. Interesting, yes, as is the opening in which a word of dialogue isn’t spoken for almost ten minutes, but the chase scenes are handled in a more user-friendly manner, whether it’s dogs or the ‘walking corpses’ stalking our main protagonist; the latter including an impressively electrifying finale on the tracks.
Why Thorndike suddenly decided to load the gun and take a shot at Hitler is never made clear, and his constant denial throughout the rest of the movie doesn’t sit right, so instead of seeking revenge for what happened to him, he takes it on the chin like a frustrating English gentleman would. It would be nice to see him get a little angry every once in a while, and viewers will also be disappointed with Lang’s decision to discard the romance, even if the couple’s parting is a highlight.
Lang’s London has never looked more creepy, but shadows don’t hide everything, and this engaging thriller is let down by merely passable thrills, an abandoned romance, and a hero more chilled than a pint of Becks on a winter’s day. DW
This is a majority English-language release.
Man Hunt is a 1941 American thriller from famed Austrian director Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis) and starring Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett.
Captain Alan Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is caught near Berchtesgaden just as he's drawn a bead on Adolf Hitler. He is beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.
Film: Man Hunt
Release date: 31st January 2011
Certificate: PG
Running time: 106 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Walter Pidgeon,
Joan Bennett, George Sanders
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: USA
DVD Special Features:
•
Trailer
Film: Metropolis
Release date: 22nd November 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 150 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Romance/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Studio: Eureka!
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Germany
Considered by many for over eighty years to be the Holy Grail of lost films, the missing 25-minutes of the original version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has finally been found. The Austrian-born director’s 1927 tour de force has been fully restored and can now be seen in all its retro-style glory, just as Lang originally intended.
Metropolis is set in a futuristic city and tells the story of a down-trodden work-force being controlled by an industrial magnate called Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel). The workers live and toil underground in harsh conditions, whilst the privileged high castes enjoy a luxurious life in the city above.
Fredersen’s cosseted son, Freder (Gustav Frolich), falls in love with the righteous Maria (Brigitte Helm) after she visits the Eternal Gardens with a group of children from the Lower City. Freder goes looking for the girl and is soon exposed to the horrendous state of affairs the workers are made to endure, and takes the place of a labourer who works a ten-hour shift working the hands of a giant clock machine.
Learning that Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) has created a female robot as a replacement to their mutual lost lover Hel, Fredersen instructs the mad inventor to transform her into an evil double of Maria, whom Fredersen now sees as a threat, as she prophesises the coming of a ‘Mediator’ who will liberate the oppressed workers and their children, and to let her loose in the underworld…
The newly found footage, which was discovered in 2008 in Buenos Aires, now gives merit to the subplots that are woven into the script, written by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou, such as the rivalry between Rotwang and Fredersen over their past shared love for Hel, who died giving birth to her son Freder. It also restores the importance of the character Der Schmale (Fritz Rasp), the sinister assistant to Fredersen, whose limited scenes in the re-edited version made him appear insignificant.
With a quarter of the film reinstated, Metropolis can be seen as an epic film of many battles - religion against science, man against machine, liberation against oppression, and good against evil – and poses many questions, such as should man play at being God? Nowhere in the film is this question more apparent than in the scene where Rotwang transforms his metallic creation into the likeness of Maria, a scene that could have taken reference from the biblical story of Creation: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” However, once Rotwang starts to play God, all hell breaks loose and results in a ‘big flood’.
The film is rife with religious symbolism, such as the Star of David located on the wall behind the seated robot as it is being transformed into the likeness of Maria; the Tower of Babel where Fredersen rules over the workers of the underworld; the prophecy of an apocalypse made by a monk during a sermon; the seven deadly sins sequence; and, most noticeably, the character of Maria who represents angelic and compassionate qualities resembling those of the Virgin Mary.
The film also oozes eroticism - the robot’s hour-glass figure and graceful strut resembles that of a catwalk model; and Maria’s sexual magnetism and seductive prowess over the powerless hot-blooded men of the Eternal Garden who are left mesmerised by her hypnotic sensual dance performance.
Its magnificent visuals consisting of striking towering city blocks, inspired by the skyscrapers of New York, which he witnessed during his trip to America in 1924, still captivates film-lovers to this day. It has been reported that Lang was never satisfied with the filming of Metropolis unless he had three good takes of every shot, leading to extreme rehearsals and exhaustion within the actors. Although she was a newcomer to the acting world, Helm proved her worth by playing both the empathetic Maria and the seductive Maria convincingly. But she admitted at the time that the water sequences for the flooding scenes were a strain on her health, as was the wearing of the robot suit. Clamped in her wooden armament, made from malleable wood material which had just appeared on the market, Helm suffered from lack of air due to the shot taking so long.
Shortly after its premier, the film, which ran at a little under two-and-a-half hours, was considered far too long for American audiences and thus was savagely re-edited, much to Lang’s disgust, resulting in the storyline making little sense at all. The film was a major flop for the studio, and being the most expensive film ever made, at that time, it almost brought UFA to its knees. However, the film has built up a cult following over the years, and has gained the respect it so rightly deserves. And more than eighty years after its original release, Metropolis continues to mesmerise audiences and be an influence on contemporary filmmaking, a testament to Lang’s genius as a visionary.
The words groundbreaking, timeless, classic and masterpiece are shamelessly over-used in film critique, making them almost clichés. But these are words that accurately describe this work of cinematic art. There’s no denying, especially now that it can be seen in its entirety, as Lang intended, that Metropolis is the most important film of its genre, and undoubtedly one of the greatest films ever made. SLP
Film: While The City Sleeps
Release date: 27th September 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 100 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming , George Sanders, Howard Duff, Ida Lupino
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Exposure
Format: DVD
Country: USA
This is an English-Language release.
A legend in the world of film noir, Austrian filmmaker Fritz Lang has been dubbed the Master of Darkness for his contributions to the genre. After emigrating to America, Lang’s films took a turn away from his expressionist roots but not necessarily for the worst. While The City Sleeps is the perfect example why.
A who’s who of 1950s cinema is recruited to act out Casey Robinson’s interwoven screenplay of murder, mystery and marriage.
At the centre of all the action, and tying together every strand of this plot is a newspaper office. The aptly timed death of a young lady in New York City convinces Kyne (Robert Warwick) that priority coverage of this murder mystery will ensure his publication beats the competition and simultaneously throw women into panic. Minutes after dubbing the murderer (John Barrymore Jr.) “The Lipstick Killer” Kyne passes away, leaving it up to his son and sole heir Walter (Vincent Price) to run the newspaper and continue the search for the murderer.
As anticipated by everyone at the paper, Walter doesn’t know where to begin, or how to approach his new role as boss in the publishing industry, and quickly concocts a plan which will relieve him of his responsibilities whilst maintaining the credit.
With the newly established role of executive director up for grabs, Walter challenges three of his department heads to crack the case, with the first man to the post being offered the job. News editor Griffith (Thomas Mitchell), wire-service chief Loving (George Sanders) and news pictures head Kritzer (James Craig) scramble to find resources and allies in the office in a bid break the news first. High flying reporter Ed Mobley (Dana Andrews) turns down Walter’s offer opting instead to focus his attention on wooing Nancy Liggett (Sally Forrest), who happens to be Loving’s secretary.
A web of alliances are made across the office, with Mobley teaming up with Griffith and sharing his close police contacts, Loving recruits famed female columnist Mildred Donner (Ida Lupino) and while Kritzer appears to be tackling the case solo, he indulges in an affair with Walter’s wife, Dorothy (Rhonda Fleming).
The glory of unravelling the mystery quickly consumes each journalist: Loving instructs Donner to seduce Mobley in an attempt infiltrate his investigation, and, after a weak Mobley drunkenly complies, he sets his sights on using new fiancé Liggett as live bait for the murderer…
Overshadowed by his own past works, Metropolis and M, Lang really did produce a classic with While The City Sleeps. The allegorical undertones of media manipulation and moral panic this story presents are relevant enough to be a modern day box office smash. Lang combines crime and its coverage with the executive director position acting as the binding agent for the two - showing how news stories are used to sell papers rather than spread information or caution.
The real genius of Lang’s imagining is the main setting - the office - and the way he uses it to prolong suspense for the characters. Entirely made of glass walls, the office allows the three competitors and Mobley to keep a close eye on each other. It creates the illusion that nothing is secret; Mobley can watch Liggett squirm as he calls her while Loving is watching over, and in this office appearances are everything. The characters are subjected to frustration in that although they can see what is happening right underneath their noses, they cannot hear it. It’s not just the audience who are privileged to a little inside information; the characters are teased into a false sense of knowing.
Robinson provides a strong script, allowing for brilliantly sharp exchanges between the lead characters. The dialogue is as fast paced as the action in the office surrounding the hunt, and lines seem to bounce off the actors nonchalantly. Where other film noirs from this era can seem somewhat stilted and forced, conversation in this film flows naturally and believably thanks to polished performances from the entire cast. Even the barman at their after work hang out, The Dell, manages to interact with the main characters with a little more punch than your standard yes-mam-serve-a-drink-step-out-of-shot bar tender. Andrews delivers an endearingly cocky performance in reaction to Forrest’s almost blasé attitude towards her love interest.
While this film does provide a few twists and turns to keep the audience interested and anticipating the next possible murder, it lacks excitement at the crucial moment. As a chase scene ensues right at the climax of the film, it leaves the audience wanting to jump into the screen and catch the murderer themselves. Dragged out to possibly try and sustain tension, Lang’s tactics seem a little desperate, and more rat and mouse than cat and mouse.
A gem of a film unfortunately lost amongst the critical disdain for Lang’s later career. While The City Sleeps offers a modest glimpse at the world of film noir and Hollywood’s star system and is a definite feather in Lang’s cap. JHA
Film: Metropolis
Release date: 10th September 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 150 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Romance/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Studio: Eureka!
Format: Cinema
Country: Germany
This iconic film of German cinema has not been seen in its entirety since initial screenings in Germany in early 1927, after which more than a quarter of the film was cut for its release the same year in America. The deleted footage was believed permanently lost until the discovery in 2008 of a duplicate negative of the film in Argentina. This new release follows restoration of the film carried out by the FW Murnau Foundation in Germany, with an additional 25 minutes of footage bringing a greater coherence to director Fritz Lang’s dystopian vision of the future.
In the year 2027, the city of Metropolis is divided between the upper world of the privileged, an Art Deco city of arrogantly looming skyscrapers, futuristic skyways, dazzling lights and decadent nightclubs, and a dark and cavernous underworld populated by workers whose lives are fodder for the barbaric machine lying at the heart of the superficially civilised city.
The central character, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), is the son of the city’s architect and mastermind, Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel). Freder’s life of decadence is shaken by the intrusion of a worker from the underworld, Maria (Brigitte Helm), into the city’s pleasure gardens. When Freder follows Maria back to the caverns of the machines, he unearths the monstrous reality of the city’s industrial heart. His discovery that something is rotten in the state of Metropolis leads him to confront his father and to go in search of Maria and, ultimately, some resolution between the master race above and the slaves below.
The city is thrown into further disarray by the robot created by the mad inventor, Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). When Joh Fredersen witnesses Maria preaching to the workers, he fears that she may cause them to rise up against their masters, and so urges Rotwang to give the robot Maria’s features in order to sow distrust and discord among the workers.
Once the robot Maria is unleashed upon the city, like the biblical whore of Babylon, then all semblance of civilisation begins to break down. It is up to Freder to effect reconciliation between the upper and lower worlds (“the mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart”) and save Metropolis from destruction…
The film earned its legendary status through the gigantic ambitions of its set designs, technical innovations and grand social and moral themes. Production infamously went wildly over budget, with its initially estimated cost of 1.5 million marks coming closer to 6 million, taking a virtually unprecedented shooting time of nine months. Typically of German cinema of the time, it was filmed entirely within the controlled conditions of UFA’s massive studios, enabling meticulous artistic control of the film’s design. Many technical innovations were used, such as multiple exposure of the film negative to create compound images, and the use of mirrors to include scaled model sets within the same shot as real action. Despite the primitive nature of these techniques compared to the sophistication of CGI, they remain surprisingly effective – for example, the scene where Rotwang’s robot comes to life, turns slowly towards Fredersen and extends a hand towards him creates a genuine thrill and sense of unease.
The main effect of the additional footage is the greater prominence given to Freder’s relationships with three supporting male characters, who were reduced to extras in the cut version. Freder is shown to be capable of inspiring devoted loyalty from both his father’s former overseer, Josaphat (Theodor Loos), and from the downtrodden worker known as 11811 (Erwin Biswanger). The sinister Thin Man (Fritz Rasp) is sent by Joh Fredersen to spy on his son, his ruthlessness indicating the lengths to which the father will go to protect his inequitable empire. The fleshing out of these three characters’ relationships with Freder gives greater depth to his characterisation, and he appears more dynamic and heroic than in the truncated version of the film.
The ideology of Metropolis has created much debate concerning the film’s political stance. As the workers shuffle towards their morning shift, their rounded backs recall the stylised torsos of Soviet propaganda posters, but the heads of the workers are abjectly bowed rather than raised in pride. The proletariat seems alarmingly bendable to the will of others – whether to the impassioned, quasi-religious pleas of Maria, asking the workers to keep faith in the long awaited Mediator, who will bring social harmony to Metropolis; or to the demented sexual promise of the robot Maria, inciting the workers to revolt, to the musical accompaniment of an off-key Marsellaise. The workers trudge towards revolution with as much apparent mindlessness as they manifested in the drudgery of their working day. But the film seems to portray the privileged classes as equally powerless with regard to their own destiny. Even the path of Freder is touched by the fatalism characteristic of Lang’s films. Freder’s moral disgust, compassion for his fellow man, romantic love for Maria and rebellion against the city’s patriarch cast him in the role of a modern day Hamlet. His pre-figured destiny is not to heal the wounds of that society, but to effect a superficial reconciliation which merely casts a sentimental glow over the class divide.
The political equivocation of the film is mirrored by the ambiguity of its modernist set design, expressing both repulsion and fascination with the machine age. This ambiguity reflects the mood of the era, when the mechanised destruction of the Great War and the subsequent economic collapse of Germany contributed to modernism being fêted by violently opposing political and artistic groups. It’s therefore not surprising that the modernist aesthetics of Metropolis have led critics to make wildly varying judgements concerning Lang’s political intentions. The film’s resistance to definitive interpretation has only added to its status and fascination for generations of cinema viewers.
The restored footage gives modern audiences the chance to appreciate Lang’s vision as never before. Experience the full exhilaration of the film’s majestically soaring sets, dramatic music score and startling visual effects, and its larger than life performances, from Freder’s anguished moral indignation to Brigitte Helm’s magnificently twitching and demented portrayal of the evil robot. KR
Film: M
Release date: 22nd February 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 110 mins
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann
Genre: Thriller
Studio: Eureka
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Germany
The Masters of Cinema series delivers the restored director’s cut of Fritz Lang’s much acclaimed monochrome thriller.
The story centres on a series of child murders in a German city that are terrifying the residents and confounding the police.
We join the action after eight children have died. Little Elsie Beckmann, unwittingly accompanying the killer on her way home from school, becomes his ninth victim. The scene of Elsie’s desperate mother calling for her as an empty place at the dinner table comes into view, is truly harrowing.
Lang then opens things out to show how these events are preying on the city. Fear and paranoia grip the general population, as every mother fears her child will be next, neighbour turns on neighbour, and men are attacked for just being near a child in the street. An exhaustive round-the-clock police search of every bush, flophouse and underworld joint in town turns up little except some cigarette butts and a used sweet bag. ‘The people just don’t understand they have a collective responsibility in this,’ says an exasperated police chief.
That collective responsibility arrives from an unexpected source. The underworld bosses, alarmed at the attention the intense police effort is bringing their own activities, determine to catch the killer themselves. In a wry swipe at authority, Lang alternates scenes depicting the meeting of the gangland chiefs, with similar scenes of a police meeting, so that it becomes hard to tell which group are the criminals. At one point, a gesture begun by a gangland boss is completed by the police chief.
Ultimately, it is the collective action of two outcast elements of society – the underworld and the beggars – that will decide whether the killer can be brought to justice…
Lang deftly takes a step back to examine the very notion of justice, of crime and punishment, of collective and individual responsibility for our actions. Since the killer admits he is compelled to act the way he does by his mental state and not out of choice, is this all the more reason to execute him, as the only certain way to prevent him killing again in the future? Or does his compulsion to kill mean he is not responsible for his actions, and therefore should not be punished? ‘Does a man who is sick need a court of law or a doctor?’ as one character puts it. And are all these questions just moot points, when any form of justice will not bring the children back to their mothers, nor make the city feel any more secure that another killer could not do the same again?
The rise of National Socialism provides obvious real-life parallels to the themes Lang employs in the film. The Jewish actor Peter Lorre, who brilliantly portrays the frighteningly ordinary killer Beckert, was to flee Germany soon after filming, while half-Jewish Lang would follow suit two years later, after a somewhat frank meeting with Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels. Yet the popular myth that Lang changed the name of the film (from The Murderers Are Among Us to M) in fear of Nazi reprisals, is untrue. Inspired by the ‘M’ that one of the characters chalks on his hand, Lang altered the name during filming because he thought it would be a more interesting title. In any event, the Nazis banned the film in 1934.
Lang’s inspiration for such groundbreaking work is uncertain. Some claim the story is based on the crimes of serial killer Peter Kürten in the 1920s, but Lang denied this. His interest in police forensics is apparent, however – the intense search for clues and examination of fingerprints and handwriting are amazingly detailed for a science in its infancy at the time.
Whatever his inspiration, Lang produced a true masterpiece with M, ahead of its time. Voted the most important German film of all time by the German Cinema Association, it was not only the nation’s first talkie, but the first about a serial killer, pre-empting the film noir genre to follow. His use of real criminals for the underworld gangs (twenty-four were jailed after filming), and his insistence at throwing the long-suffering Lorre down the cellar steps over a dozen times to get the right shot, are measures few, if any, of Lang’s contemporaries would have taken in pursuit of authenticity. The subject matter was shocking for a 1930s audience and MGM studio boss Irving Thalberg, while declaring its greatness, admitted he would have run a mile from such material.
The black-and-white photography, gloriously restored here in high definition, is the perfect vehicle for Lang’s use of light and shade and lurking shadows, while his sparse use of sound (some scenes are intentionally silent) merely enhances the atmosphere.
You might think you’ve seen this film before. What you’ve probably seen is the heavily edited 1960s release, which not only cut twelve precious minutes, but clumsily patched in additional sound to make, well, rather a mess of things. This ‘Ultimate Edition’ puts all this right, with sharp, high definition transfer of the full 110 minutes, cleaned up digital mono sound and the deliberately unsettling 1:19:1 aspect ratio of the original.
Of all the films he directed, M remained Lang’s favourite. What seems hard to believe now is that he only made it to regain his reputation after the failure of his two previous efforts. One of those was Metropolis. Time has judged Fritz Lang rather more favourably. CS
