Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)
The most seductive robot wink
in cinema history, out of control,
leading troglodyte saps in ridiculous sabots
to near destruction, inciting dinner-suits
to fisticuffs, murder, suicide,
laughing as the flames of the witch-pyre
lick her to base metal.
-Love Letter to Brigitte Helm, Peter Howard
Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)
“This film marks the beginning of an intensive interplay between cinema and architecture. In its most grandiose moments the two fuse to become cinematic architecture, an independent art form.”
-Wolfgang Jacobsen, Metropolis: A Cinematic Laboratory for Modern Architecture
Art director Erich Kettelhut & crew create the futuristic city set of Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)
Spies (1928, dir. Fritz Lang)
The latest in 1920’s astronaut style via Woman in the Moon (1929, Fritz Lang)
Brigitte Helm in Metropolis (1927, dir. Fritz Lang)
On the creation of Robot Maria:
“The concentric rings of light that surround her and move from top to bottom were in fact a little ball of silver rapidly swung in a circle and filmed on a background of black velvet. We superimposed those shots, in the lab, over the shot of the robot in a sitting position that we had filmed previously.”
-Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang & the monocle he sported during the filming of Metropolis (1927) (via)
On the increased use of violence in post-war films:
“After the war, there was no longer a sense of family. We no longer loved our flag or honored our country. People no longer believe in hell and brimstone, or even retribution and therefore they do not believe in punishment after they are dead. What could we be afraid of? There was only one thing: physical pain. Physical pain comes from violence and I think today that is the only fact that people really fear. And when we are afraid of violence, then it becomes an element of drama. So, brutality’s now a necessary ingredient of dramatic development and denouement.
We can’t avoid violence because it is everywhere. It should be present in films. But everything depends on the way it is shown. I detest violence when it is shown as a spectacle or when it is used to make us laugh. And that is how it is used more and more on the screen.”
-Lang, in 1967 interview (via Brunnhuber’s Fritz Lang: His Life & Work)
Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) kidnaps Maria (Brigitte Helm) in Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
(via)
Fritz Lang, actress Gerda Maurus & crew on the set of Woman in the Moon (1929, dir. Fritz Lang), which included a giant backdrop painting of a lunar landscape (click to enlarge) (via)
Woman in the Moon, Fritz Lang’s 1929 silent science fiction film about mankind’s first trip to the moon
(via)
Lunar flight plans via Woman in the Moon (1929, dir. Fritz Lang)
‘For the human mind, there is no never – only a not yet.’
Woman in the Moon, Fritz Lang’s 1929 sci-fi film about the first moon landing (via)
