Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...
Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ... Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...
2.1 Fritz Lang Out of the list of directors selected in this part, the name of Fritz Lang (Vienna, Austria, Dec. 5, 1890 – Aug. 2, 1976) is the one that stands out in terms of the number of significant noir films created and which became acclaimed subsequently. Growing up in fin de siècle Vienna, Lang attended art school before WWI, and soon absorbed part of the opulent decadence of major painters of the early twentieth century, namely Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Edvard Munch. Moreover, the concepts in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, specifically his amoral Übermensch and the unconscious drives, and the mordant theories of Sigmund Freud were to be reflected in Lang’s work for decades to come. However, it was during WWI that Lang decided to join the German film industry. “Der müde Tod” (Weary Death, 1921), not only inspired Douglas Fairbanks Sr.’s 1924 feature, The Thief of Baghdad, but is also considered as a major cinematic achievement by Lang, thanks to its special effects . The following year, Lang directed Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler (The Gambler), an epic divided into two parts and which portraits the life of a doctor of psychology and a master criminal. In 1924, Die Nibelungen was also a silent fantasy film divided into two different parts, Siegfried and Kriemhild’s Revenge, based upon the 13th-century Siegfried epic poem, and intended to reinstate German cultural heritage. In 1927, Fritz Lang directed a science-fiction film which, still nowadays, remains a classic and is shown in several film festivals. Metropolis is a dominant Expressionistic drama about a futuristic urban society, and along with its amazing technical achievement, it became one of the most expensive silent production ever made (it almost bankrupted the UFA studio). Lang decided then to come up with his own production company for his next movie, Spione (1928), which, though not so successful as his previous movies, also tackles the sophisticated world of espionage and technology. It was followed by Woman in the Moon (Die Frau im Mond, 1929), another science fiction silent film, and M (1931), starring Peter Lorre as a compulsive child-murderer. M (see p.108) is Lang’s first sound film and is considered by the director himself his finest masterpiece of his German period. 268
Andrew Sarris once wrote that “If Adolf Hitler had never existed, Fritz Lang would have had to invent him on the screen”. Sarris refers to the fact that Lang was not Jewish and that his 1932 film Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse would intentionally reflect Nazi teachings. This explains the reason why Lang was called upon by Joseph Goebbels, the then head of the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda, to administer Nazi film production. Lang was not, however, willing to accept this suggestion and decided to leave Germany for Paris that same day. In 1933, his wife and screenwriter collaborator Thea von Harbou divorced him, and joined the Nazi movement. Once in Paris, Lang released a French fantasy film called Liliom, starring Charles Boyer and Madeleine Ozeray, in 1934, and signed a contract with David O. Selznick of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was when he decided to move to Hollywood where he eventually stayed for over twenty years, working on and directing films of diverse genres (thrillers, war and crime dramas, and Westerns). In 1963 Lang appeared himself in the film Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Godard, released in the United States as Contempt. The film follows the tradition of Brechtian deconstruction, as it is a film about filmmaking, and always reminding the spectator of its artificial and manufactured design. Starring noir actor Jack Pallance, in the role of a vulgar American producer called Jeremy Prokosch, Fritz Lang plays himself as a director of a film remake of Homer’s The Odyssey, which Prokosch wants to make more commercial. With Le Mépris, 78 also starring Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bardot, Lang was awarded the title of French Officier by the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in Beverly Hills, California on August 2, 1976, at the age of 85. The above examples from Lang’s career are relevant as they show how Lang explored his personal fascination through cinema, using, as he states, “cruelty, fear, horror and death”. Still today, his filmmaking style is essentially admired for the arresting visual compositions and sound effects, all imbued with suspense and the use of minimalist techniques to stir up horror in the spectator’s mind. His oeuvre in the world of noir is particularly vast, always showing the dark side of human nature (some examples of his films are depicted in fig. 64), with protagonists left at the mercy of the laws of fate. Patrick McGilligan, in his Lang biography, also registers the director’s visions of the world of human moral corruption: 78 The film was considered by Colin MacCabe in the magazine Sight & Sound as “the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe” (quoted from an article by Phillip Lopate entitled “Brilliance and Bardot, All in One,” in New York Times, June 1997). 269
- Page 233 and 234: In my analysis of The Big Combo in
- Page 235 and 236: Consequently, in the fifties, we st
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- Page 255 and 256: For example, in the scene above (fi
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- Page 267 and 268: project my viewpoint on the audienc
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- Page 271 and 272: pouvait espérer sortir de la déno
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Andrew Sarris once wrote that “If A<strong>do</strong>lf Hitler had never existed, Fritz Lang would<br />
have had to invent him on the screen”. Sarris refers to the fact that Lang was <strong>no</strong>t Jewish<br />
and that his 1932 film Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse would intentionally reflect Nazi<br />
teachings. This explains the reason why Lang was called upon by Joseph Goebbels, the<br />
then head of the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propagan<strong>da</strong>, to administer Nazi film<br />
production. Lang was <strong>no</strong>t, however, willing to accept this suggestion and decided to leave<br />
Germany for Paris that same <strong>da</strong>y. In 1933, his wife and screenwriter collaborator Thea von<br />
Harbou divorced him, and joined the Nazi movement. Once in Paris, Lang released a<br />
French fantasy film called Liliom, starring Charles Boyer and Madeleine Ozeray, in 1934,<br />
and signed a contract with David O. Selznick of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was when he<br />
decided to move to Hollywood where he eventually stayed for over twenty years, working<br />
on and directing films of diverse genres (thrillers, war and crime dramas, and Westerns).<br />
In 1963 Lang appeared himself in the film Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Go<strong>da</strong>rd,<br />
released in the United States as Contempt. The film follows the tradition of Brechtian<br />
deconstruction, as it is a film about filmmaking, and always reminding the spectator of its<br />
artificial and manufactured design. Starring <strong>no</strong>ir actor Jack Pallance, in the role of a vulgar<br />
American producer called Jeremy Prokosch, Fritz Lang plays himself as a director of a<br />
film remake of Homer’s The Odyssey, which Prokosch wants to make more commercial.<br />
With Le Mépris, 78 also starring Michel Piccoli and Brigitte Bar<strong>do</strong>t, Lang was awarded the<br />
title of French Officier by the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died in Beverly Hills,<br />
California on August 2, 1976, at the age of 85.<br />
The above examples from Lang’s career are relevant as they show how Lang<br />
explored his personal fascination through cinema, using, as he states, “cruelty, fear, horror<br />
and death”. Still to<strong>da</strong>y, his filmmaking style is essentially admired for the arresting visual<br />
compositions and sound effects, all imbued with suspense and the use of minimalist<br />
techniques to stir up horror in the spectator’s mind. His oeuvre in the world of <strong>no</strong>ir is<br />
particularly vast, always showing the <strong>da</strong>rk side of human nature (some examples of his<br />
films are depicted in fig. 64), with protagonists left at the mercy of the laws of fate. Patrick<br />
McGilligan, in his Lang biography, also registers the director’s visions of the world of<br />
human moral corruption:<br />
78 The film was considered by Colin MacCabe in the magazine Sight & Sound as “the greatest work of art<br />
produced in postwar Europe” (quoted from an article by Phillip Lopate entitled “Brilliance and Bar<strong>do</strong>t, All in<br />
One,” in New York Times, June 1997).<br />
269