Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang) 

Joan Bennett in Secret Beyond the Door, Fritz Lang’s 1948 reworking of the Bluebeard tale (via)

“I remember. Long ago I read a book that told the meaning of dreams. It said that if a girl dreams of a boat or a ship she will reach a safe harbor, but if she dreams of daffodils she is in great danger. But this is no time for me to think of danger. This is my wedding day.”

Brigitte Helm & Rudolf Klein-Rogge in Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) (photo by Horst von Harbou)

Henry Fonda in his death row cell in You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang)

“You Only Live Once is the story of a man who tries to live an honest life. He is pursued, fighting alone against the menacing power of a society he must fight.

To fight, that is what counts. If we think there is the smallest chance to succeed, we must continue to do what we believe is good. Perhaps this is a sort of martyrdom, even if I don’t believe it, but it is the essence of life, fighting for the causes we believe to be right.

That is truly the problem that has always interested me—not obsessed or possessed me, because I was possessed only once—that’s all, in one way or another, it is inevitable. You get caught in the works, and you can’t escape. But aside from that, what I always wanted to show and define is the attitude of struggle that must be adopted in the face of destiny. Whether or not the individual wins this fight, what counts is the fight itself, because it is vital.”

-Fritz Lang, quoted in Fritz Lang: Interviews 

Henry Fonda, Fritz Lang (to right of camera in white), & crew on the set of You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang)

(via Alain Silver’s Film Noir)

Gustav Fröhlich in Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) (via)

Photo by Horst von Harbou.

 Die Nibelungen (1924, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, & Bernhard Goetzke as Death in Destiny (1921, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

Sylvia Sidney in You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang) (via Still Moving: The Film and Media Collections of the Museum of Modern Art)

The Schüfftan Process, as used to film the stadium scenes in Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang) 

(via)

Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) Photo by Horst von Harbou. (via)

Filmed using the Schüfftan Process, a precursor of the bluescreen. The technique used mirrors to create the illusion of live actors in huge sets (which in actuality were miniatures of scenery composed of painted or modeled backgrounds).

M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang)

(via)