The Eye of Cinema (#2) – Fritz Lang

In 1933, Lang witnessed firsthand how the Nazis restructured the state after seizing power. While “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse” was being banned, Goebbels summoned him for a meeting in early April. Lang frequently spun elaborate tales about this encounter—during which he was allegedly offered the “leadership” of the National Socialist film industry—and about his supposed departure that very evening. The facts are these: the meeting did take place, but Lang did not leave Germany until June. In the interim, he met Lily Latté, the woman who would later accompany him to the USA and remain by his side until his death. After a brief interlude in France (unfortunately, no adequate screening prints currently exist for “Liliom”, the film he shot there), he arrived in New York on June 12, 1934, with an MGM contract in hand and an enthusiastic reception from the US press awaiting him.

In Hollywood, however, he discovered that “America doesn’t work from scripts, but from recipes.” Initial projects fell through, and his employment hung in the balance. A low-budget production was intended to save his career. “Fury”—once again a story about an individual battling overwhelming forces—played to Lang’s strengths: genre cinema combined with elements of the social drama, a popular genre at the time. “I am not one of those who say films should entertain. They should entertain, yes, but not “only” entertain.” During filming, however, conflicts frequently arose between the cast and crew and the “difficult”—because perfectionist—director, who refused to fully submit to the Hollywood system. He experienced both successes and failures, at times written off and at others in high demand.

He also toned down the artistic expressiveness of his visuals in favor of a realism modeled on newsreels. His villains no longer hatch plots from the underground; instead, they appear as well-dressed citizens. Consequently, the threat is far from abstract—quite the opposite: it resides within institutions, the masses, the law, and sometimes even one’s own neighbor. Themes that preoccupied Lang in his German films find new settings and faces in America. The longer Lang works in Hollywood, the more clearly producers, studios, and censors impose limits upon him. Lang remains an outsider within the system—and therein lies the productive tension of this phase of his work. Spanning gangster movies, Westerns, anti-war films, and noir, a cinema emerges in which American genres collide with a deeply European perspective—one that may have grown more sober over the years, yet remains fundamentally distrustful of the world.
(Florian Widegger)