<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Fritz Lang (December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976) Lang is most famous for his film-noir crime films, such as "M" (1931), but he was also the director of two major science fiction films, Metropolis (1927) and The Woman in the Moon (1929), as well as a retelling of the "Siegfried" myth cycle (1924), and a series of crime adventures with fantastic elements concerning the treacherous undertakings of the notorious Dr. Mabuse (1922, 1933, 1960).

Born in Austria, Lang initially sought to become a painter. After serving in the Austrian army in World War I, he moved to Berlin and began to work as a director's assistant and quickly made the transition to director in his own right. In 1918 he met Thea von Harbou, an actress and writer then married to the actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge. In 1922 von Harbou and Klein-Rogge divorced, and von Harbou married Lang. The two of them continued to support Klein-Rogge, however, and he appeared in Lang's films as long as Lang remained in Germany. In 1932, von Harbou and Lang separated and von Harbou joined the Nazi party.

Lang left Germany in 1933, although his version of his departure -- which he said occurred after a meeting with Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels -- has recently come into question. Patrick McGilligan, in Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast (1997), has shown 1) that the dates of Lang's departure in his passport are months later than in his telling of the tale, and 2) that Goebbels' voluminous notes make no mention of a meeting with Lang. At any rate, Lang eventually moved to Hollywood and worked primarily in the mystery field, sometimes with great success.

Thea von Harbou was the screenwriter for many of Lang's films, including Metropolis, The Woman in the Moon, the "Siegfried" cycle, and the first two "Dr. Mabuse" films. The Woman in the Moon, about the first rocket to visit our satellite, is remarkable in that Hermann Oberth, then of the German Rocket Society (but soon to head the Nazi rocket development program), was the technical advisor for the movie. The count-down for the rocket launch in the film was designed to build suspense, but Oberth subsequently incorporated the count-down as an effective means of preparing for actual rocket launches.

The "Siegfried" films are interesting as very early fantasy movies, but neither of them is terribly compelling.

The first two "Dr. Mabuse" films concern a criminal mastermind who seeks to rule the world. Although the character owes a certain debt to Conan Doyle's Dr. Moriarty, Mabuse in many ways resembles Hitler. This allusion was not lost on the Nazis. They banned The Testament of Dr. Mabuse in Germany before it was released, and so it had its premier in Hungary in 1933. After World War II the film was partially restored, although about three minutes of the final cut is missing from the version that now exists. There is a fantastical element to the final Mabuse film: the evil Doctor is able to insinuate himself into the minds of others, even after his physical death.