Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
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)

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)

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 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 

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)

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)

You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

Sylvia Sidney & Henry Fonda in You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)

Sylvia Sidney & Henry Fonda in You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang) (via)