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 ...
Irony of ironies, the man with the monocle was virtually blind. He was one of the cinema’s greatest visionaries, this director who conjured a mythic world in Die Nibelungen and created a fantastical future in Metropolis. His Dr. Mabuse was the emblematic madman of Hitler’s Germany. In M he explored the depths of human depravity. After rejecting a Faustian pact with Joseph Goebbels – if it really happened that way – he came to Hollywood, where he found a second life exploring the depths of America, and his own inner demons, in masterly films like Fury, You Only Live Once, The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street, and The Big Heat. (McGilligan 1997:73) The films mentioned in the quote above are indeed some of the major works from Lang’s filmography, and, as the author stresses, Lang aimed at “exploring the depths of America, and his own inner demons”. They also have features that strongly herald the noir movement and which provide essential visual and thematic links between the German Expressionism of the previous decade and American film noir which lay ahead. Some of the picture insets below were taken from these movies and show Lang’s fateful visual style and the alienation of his characters. Figure 64. Different scenes from various films by Fritz Lang 79 nnnnnnnn Due to Lang’s extensive noir filmography, I will focus only on two noir productions that serve as an evidential basis for this dissertation regarding the world of entrapment that characterises noir, Lang’s psychology of human weakness and his regular recapitulations of the themes of crime and punishment. Through them, I also wish to emphasise how his career constitutes a complete change in filmmaking and direction in the history of cinema. The fact that he moved from one studio to another (at least seven different ones) throughout his career shows the extent to which Lang was eager to experiment new styles until when he managed to form his own production company. All in all, Fritz Lang’s distinctive style remains very personal and subtle and not necessarily aimed at mass audiences. Although films like Metropolis, for example, may be an 79 Sequence of films (from left to right): M (1931), Fury (1936), You Only Live Once (1937), The Big Heat (1953). 270
exception to this rule, his movies stand out from the norm for their visual and thematical point of view. More importantly, Lang’s Hollywood pictures, specifically the one I am about to discuss, convey an image of the darkness of human complexity and the corruption of the soul. Although he obtained acclaimed success with films such as The Big Heat, Lang felt that too much (studio) control was placed over his American productions. While recollecting his past cinematic experiences in his early German years, Fritz Lang admitted that every low-budget film (aimed at attracting audiences) he had directed had been an attempt for him to get back the type of studio power that had allowed him to work unrestrained. Due to matters of censorship and politics in film production, Lang was often held back and felt limited in terms of the content and style of his own films. Yet, Fritz Lang managed to appropriate sufficient authorial control of his movies (this is in part one of the reasons why Lang was so highly acknowledged by the critics who created the auteur theory), even when the Hays Code directly interfered with his vision. Fritz Lang notes: “Every picture has a certain rhythm which only one man can give it. That man is the director. He has to be like the captain of a ship” (in Grant 2003:145). Perhaps therefore the high admiration that we have for Fritz Lang today is largely a result of this ability. Even in his later films, Lang’s talent to twist the cinematic blade in human despair made even his not-so-well achieved productions (mostly those from the sixties) multifaceted and inspiring in their representation of dark and disturbed psychology. By 1945, fully established in Hollywood, Fritz Lang directed two much-admired noir movies - The Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street – which share many visual and plot features as I will discuss next. 271
- Page 235 and 236: Consequently, in the fifties, we st
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- Page 239 and 240: noticeably the case, for example, w
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- Page 243 and 244: elationship to the way a director t
- Page 245 and 246: 2.1.1 Billy Wilder Billy Wilder pla
- Page 247 and 248: performance is full of understated
- Page 249 and 250: Figure 54. Sunset Boulevard Wilder
- Page 251 and 252: Figure 55. Ace in the Hole All of B
- Page 253 and 254: 2.1.2 Orson Welles He may have only
- Page 255 and 256: For example, in the scene above (fi
- Page 257 and 258: As Leo Braudy in The World in a Fra
- Page 259 and 260: slanting compositions, and brillian
- Page 261 and 262: 2.1.3 Otto Preminger Austrian film
- Page 263 and 264: plans, June still shows her love fo
- Page 265 and 266: Figure 61. Where the Sidewalk Ends
- Page 267 and 268: project my viewpoint on the audienc
- Page 269 and 270: postulated as the “doctrine of si
- Page 271 and 272: pouvait espérer sortir de la déno
- Page 273 and 274: I am at the barber's, and a copy of
- Page 275 and 276: certain community, our subjective r
- Page 277 and 278: interpretant” (Stam 1992:6). Here
- Page 279 and 280: The notion of “text” as a disco
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- Page 283 and 284: 2 The Universe of Motifs and Symbol
- Page 285: Andrew Sarris once wrote that “If
- Page 289 and 290: independent production companies in
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- Page 297 and 298: Figure 70. Metropolis The clock mot
- Page 299 and 300: Figure 71. Strangers on a Train The
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exception to this rule, his movies stand out from the <strong>no</strong>rm for their visual and thematical<br />
point of view. More importantly, Lang’s Hollywood pictures, specifically the one I am<br />
about to discuss, convey an image of the <strong>da</strong>rkness of human complexity and the corruption<br />
of the soul.<br />
Although he obtained acclaimed success with films such as The Big Heat, Lang felt<br />
that too much (studio) control was placed over his American productions. While<br />
recollecting his past cinematic experiences in his early German years, Fritz Lang admitted<br />
that every low-budget film (aimed at attracting audiences) he had directed had been an<br />
attempt for him to get back the type of studio power that had allowed him to work<br />
unrestrained. Due to matters of censorship and politics in film production, Lang was often<br />
held back and felt limited in terms of the content and style of his own films. Yet, Fritz<br />
Lang managed to appropriate sufficient authorial control of his movies (this is in part one<br />
of the reasons why Lang was so highly ack<strong>no</strong>wledged by the critics who created the auteur<br />
theory), even when the Hays Code directly interfered with his vision. Fritz Lang <strong>no</strong>tes:<br />
“Every picture has a certain rhythm which only one man can give it. That man is the<br />
director. He has to be like the captain of a ship” (in Grant 2003:145). Perhaps therefore the<br />
high admiration that we have for Fritz Lang to<strong>da</strong>y is largely a result of this ability. Even in<br />
his later films, Lang’s talent to twist the cinematic blade in human despair made even his<br />
<strong>no</strong>t-so-well achieved productions (mostly those from the sixties) multifaceted and inspiring<br />
in their representation of <strong>da</strong>rk and disturbed psychology. By 1945, fully established in<br />
Hollywood, Fritz Lang directed two much-admired <strong>no</strong>ir movies - The Woman in the<br />
Win<strong>do</strong>w and Scarlet Street – which share many visual and plot features as I will discuss<br />
next.<br />
271
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