Who is Fritz Lang?

"Fritz Lang, G.W. Pabst, and [F.W.] Murnau formed the great triumvirate of the easy age of the German cinema" (Thomas, 1997, Cal. 16:4). A crowing nice movement, many filmmakers, including the above as well as quite a few others, moved to Hollywood as Hitler and the Nazis gained influence and power in Germany. These filmmakers would bring with them lasting artistic influences on the American cinema that would posterior find way in key films noir as well as horror, scientific discipline fiction, and spy thrillers (Emerson, 1998; Thomas, 2001). Although much can be examined when dissecting this clip period or these directors, for purposes of length, this paper will be bound in scope to the influence that Fritz Lang, in particular, had on the American cinema.

Fritz Lang was born in Vienna in 1890 to an architect bring forth who managed a construction company and a Jewish get who had converted to Catholicism by the time Lang was ten days old. After high school, Lang enrolled in the Technische Hochschule Wien (Vienna's College of Technical Sciences of the Academy of graphic Arts). However, he was unhappy with the school his parents had chosen for him and ran away to study art in Munich, Paris, Asia and North Africa ("Biography for Fritz Lang," 2001).

At the sexual climax of World War I, he was drafted into the Austrian army and was weakened three times before being sent dwelling shell-shocked and with permanent eye damage (Thomas,

"Fritz Lang: The Illusion of Mastery." (2000). Sight and Sound. The British shoot Institute. Available online at hypertext transfer protocol://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/2000_01/lang.html

"Biography for Fritz Lang." (2001). Internet Movie Database. Available online at http:us.imdb.com/Bio?Lang,+Fritz

"Significant Developments in movie theatre History through and through D.W. Griffith." (2001). Early Cinema History Timeline. Available online at http://www.enl.umassd.edu/InteractiveCourse/Ethompson/earlycinema.html

Emerson, J. (1998). "Shadows (of German Expressionism)." Jeem's Cinepad. Available online at http://www.cinepad.com/filmnoir/shadows.htm

Yahnke, R. E. (1996). "Chapter 1, Films from the Silent Era." Cinema History. Available online at http://www.gen.umn.

edu/faculty_staff/yahnke/film/cinema1.htm

Morris, G. (July 2000). "Fritz Lang's M on VHS and DVD: A Textbook Classic Restored to Perfection." Bright Lights Film Journal. Issue 29. Available online at http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/29/m.html

another(prenominal) of the ways in which Lang influenced American cinema was in his lend oneself of the mise en scene. The term "mise en scene" was originally a French term meaning "placing on stage" and later came to mean placement in relationship to the camera (Giannetti, 1990). In "M" (1931), Lang creates suspense by not showing the consequent killer, except in shadow or profile. Giannetti (1990) points out that "the insane child killer is never seen directly. We can only hotshot his presence, for he lurks in the darkness outside of the light of the swan" (p. 46). This is a technique often used by Alfred Hitchcock in his movies to create suspense. Director Claude Chabrol was once quoted as saying that, "Without Lang on that point would be no Hitchcock" (Thomas, 2001, Cal. P. 1).

"M" (1931) has actually been referred to as Lang's greatest work and definitely a precursor to film noir. Although the book is credited to Lang's wife at the time, Thea Von Harbou, the story is based on the real-l
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