Man With A Movie List

Director: Fritz Lang Year: 1933 Run-time: 2 hr 4 min Source: The Criterion Channel Notable For : The wonderful period of Weimar cinema is coming to an end.  Hitler came to power at the start of 1933, and Lang's latest crime thriller was censored upon release, ostensibly for its focus on lawlessness and anarchy.  Lang would later claim that the "age of crime" promoted by the titular villain (a ghost that possesses a psychiatrist) was a secret reference to the Nazi party. Verdict:  Whether you believe in this symbolism or not, it's Lang's finest, most suspenseful film carrying the legacy of the old crime serials of Feuillade.  For the first time, the heroes and villains seem somewhat evenly matched, with the mysterious crime syndicate being opposed by a lead homicide investigator as well as a defector from the bad guys (together with his unbelievably understanding wife).  The special effects are top-notch, and the film is tightly plotted, with a dollop of a...

Director: Fritz Lang Year: 1931 Source: Criterion Channel Streaming Wikipedia Analysis from One Hundred Years of Cinema Roger Ebert's Review Notable For:   This is Lang's first sound film and one that he would later call his magnum opus.  The depiction of a serial killer is surprisingly nuanced for the era.  The film is frank about the terror his actions cause but at least tries to understand his compulsions, and directly questions the audience on whether it's right to kill someone who can't control himself.  There are a number of classic scenes here - certainly Lang's editing and use of montage were in top form here. Verdict :  Although it doesn't displace Metropolis  in my mind, it's definitely a masterpiece.  In addition to everything laid out previously, I find it effective as an attempt at greater realism in crime fiction, in comparison to Fantomas  or even Lang's earlier film Spies  (although the more outlandish depiction of...

Director: Fritz Lang Year: 1928 Run-time: 2 hr 30 min Source: Hoopla It's great to see a relatively unknown Fritz Lang film on the list, although anyone looking for another iconic piece of German Expressionism will be disappointed.  Spies  is a much more straightforward action-espionage thriller, more along the lines of Les Vampires  or Fantomas .  The lineage from those predecessors is clear, although Lang's film has benefited from a decade's advances in editing. The first twenty minutes give the impression that our hero, Agent 326, is a suave James Bond prototype - he certainly looks the part, and seems capable enough as he quickly uncovers an enemy double agent in his midst.  However, that impression is dispelled as he gets quickly duped by an enemy spy ring led by an evil-eyed bank president and a femme fatale henchwoman (whose love for our hero causes her to switch sides almost immediately). From my cursory overview, it would seem that  Spies ...

Director: Fritz Lang Year: 1927 Run-time: 2 hours 28 min Source: Kanopy "I have recently seen the silliest film. I do not believe it would be possible to make one sillier," begins H.G. Wells' review of Metropolis .  He found it to be extremely unrealistic, and hopelessly sentimental.  In modern terms, Wells wanted hard sci-fi, and Lang's film is as soft as it comes.  One of Wells' main points is based on economics.  In a truly mechanized society, Wells claims, there would be no lower-class workers, since the machines would equalize the distribution of wealth. Our future doesn't look on the surface like Lang's steampunk nightmare, but here he gets it right.  When machines can replace men, men need to act more like machines to get by.  Wells is right, though:  Metropolis  isn't hard sci-fi.  The strength of this movie is that it cares more about people.  We remember it for its stylized art style, and the incredible performance of Br...