LANG, FRITZ
Publié le 22/02/2012
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LANG, FRITZ (1890–1976), director; deemed the most ingenious filmmaker
of the Weimar era. Born in Vienna, he studied architecture at the city's Technische
Hochschule. But an interest in art led him to the Kunstakademie and then
to Munich's Kunstgewerbeschule. He ended his studies in 1911 and traveled
extensively before settling in Paris in 1913 and working as a painter, fashion
designer, and cabaret performer.
The war forced Lang's return to Austria.* After enlisting, he was wounded
at the front and thereafter acted for the troops during his convalescence. He also
began writing about motion pictures. An interest in scriptwriting and acting led
him in 1918 to Berlin,* where he became an editor at Decla for Eric Pommer.
He eventually took German citizenship and in 1922 married the writer Thea von
Harbou, who assisted him with several films.
Lang wrote and directed his first film,* Halbblut (Half caste) in 1919, completing
production in five days. About a dozen films followed before the appearance
in 1922 of Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse, the gambler), his
first hit. His two-part Nibelungen appeared in 1924, and his well-known Metropolis
was made with a seven-million-mark budget in 1927. Fusing Expressionist,
psychological, and realistic elements, he was among UFA's* leading
directors by the mid-1920s and a member of Berlin's cultural elite. Judging film
an art form and an extension of the theater,* he resented the claim that movies
were simply commercial entertainment. Much of his early work was marked by
shadows, moving light, and a use of imposing architecture. M, which appeared
in 1931, was his first sound film and his final German triumph. Matching the
success of Metropolis, M confronts the melodrama of a psychopathic murderer
of little girls unable to control his actions; based on a true story, it was Lang's
favorite film. Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (The last will of Dr. Mabuse),
filmed in 1932, is an allegory on Nazi terrorism that the NSDAP banned.
Goebbels invited Lang to head Germany's film industry in 1933 but Lang,
who had visited Hollywood in 1924, forfeited status and wealth and, after working
briefly in Paris and London, returned to California. He also left Thea von
Harbou, a committed Nazi. The decision was difficult chiefly because he viewed
America as a cultural wasteland—a country devoted to greed rather than artistic
quality. Nevertheless, he was attracted by America's technical superiority. His
first major American film, Fury, appeared in 1936. After signing a contract with
Paramount in 1940, he created his own company, Diana Productions, in 1945.
Liens utiles
- Fritz Lang: Filme.
- Fritz Lang - KUNSTLER.
- Lang Fritz, 1890-1976, né à Vienne, cinéaste américain d'origine autrichienne.
- M le maudit de Fritz Lang: Lequel est-ce dans cette galerie de portraits ?
- Eisenstein- Fritz Lang et la nouvelle objectivité