Films/DVD Asylum

Lang was invited to head the Nazi propanganda film studio

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grinagog

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In Reply to: I can only take Lang in moderation posted by Victor Khomenko on July 11, 2005 at 06:59:14:

by Joseph Goebbels; he refused, and left for Hollywood via France
The gap being later (in)famously filled by Leni Riefenstahl
Hitler was a fan of Wagner (Siegfried and Niebelungen) and viewing Metropolis with it's dehumanising themes; Reich propanganda would have appeared to be a seamless progression for Lang (!)
Bravo to him for not taking that offer up; but his early films are unwittingly the very model of what would later become fascist ideological cinema
I'm sure Lang later cringed at how prophetic he'd been, and how his art and vision was subsequently hijacked by the Bad Guys
I think it's impossible to remove any appreciation of Langs "German" films from the events that unfolded later, and yes, that's depressing...
Grins

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Many of those themes were co-authored by Thea von Harbou, Lang's wife at the time, and she did join the Nazi Party. - Audiophilander 11:42:15 07/11/05 (0)
From the early 1920's his most extravagant productions, Die Nibelungen, Metropolis, Spies, Woman in The Moon, etc., were the shared visions of Thea von Harbou & Fritz Lang. Indead, von Harbou novelized several of these seminal works around the time that the films were released; apparently they were best sellers in Europe.
This shouldn't take away from the brilliance of Lang's early work or suggest that Thea von Harbou's eventual membership in the Nazi Party should obscure or detract from the groundbreaking accomlishments of either artist, but awareness of the history and ideologies involved are relevent to understanding the cultural themes highlighted in these great films.
AuPh

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