History Creator / FritzLang

* ''Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse'' (The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse), 1960. Final film directed by Lang.

->"I should say that I am a visual person. I experience with my eyes and never, or rarely, with my ears... to my constant regret."\\

* '''TheBlueGardenia'' (1953).
* '''The Big Heat'' (1953).

* ''Das wandernde Bild'' (''The Wandering Imag '', 1920: A woman attempts to flee a loveless marriage and a life of misery. Her husband comes in pursuit with a single-minded determination.

* ''Die Spinnen'' (''The Spiders''), 1919-1920: An early adventure serial; only the first two parts out of four were ever filmed.

* ''Halbblut'' (''Half-Blood''), 1918: directorial debut, now a [[MissingEpisode/{{Film}} Lost Film]]. A European man vacationing in Mexico falls for an opium-addicted prostitute and marries her. Once in Europe, she overhears a conversation between her husband and his best friend, where they are making racist comments about her mestizo (half-blood) ancestry. She swears revenge and starts conspiring to ruin the lives of both men.

* ''Halbblut'' (''Half-Blood''), 1918: directorial debut, now a [[MissingEpisode/Film Lost Film]]. A European man vacationing in Mexico falls for an opium-addicted prostitute and marries her. Once in Europe, she overhears a conversation between her husband and his best friend, where they are making racist comments about her mestizo (half-blood) ancestry. She swears revenge and starts conspiring to ruin the lives of both men.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The child serial killer in ''Film/{{M}}'', lynch mob justice in ''Fury''. And ''You Only Live Once'' (1937) was based on [[OutlawCouple Bonnie And Clyde]], who had been gunned down just three years before that film hit the theatres.

* CreatorCameo: Supposedly his hand appears in close-up shots in most of his films; also, because Peter Lorre couldn't whistle, Lang whistled the "Hall of the Mountain King" leitmotif in ''Film/{{M}}''.

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an UsefulNotes/{{Austria}}n director known for his trope-making films in the Golden Age of German and Hollywood cinema. After trying first to be an architect and then a painter, Lang got into the film industry after serving in WorldWarOne, as both a writer and actor before becoming a director. In the early 1920's he met his second wife, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, who he collaborated with on all his films for the next decade. This period included ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', ''Die Nibelungen'', the [[Film/DrMabuseTheGambler Dr. Mabuse series]], and ''Film/{{M}}'', which are probably his most famous works.

* ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', 1927: The most famous silent film of all time and codifier of countless tropes. Its influence can be seen everywhere from {{Superman}} to ''BladeRunner''.

!! Tropes created, typified, or recurring in his life and work include:

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an Austrian director known for his trope-making films in the Golden Age of German and Hollywood cinema. After trying first to be an architect and then a painter, Lang got into the film industry after serving in WorldWarOne, as both a writer and actor before becoming a director. In the early 1920's he met his second wife, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, who he collaborated with on all his films for the next decade. This period included ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', ''Die Nibelungen'', the [[Film/DrMabuseTheGambler Dr. Mabuse series]], and ''Film/{{M}}'', which are probably his most famous works.

Lang left Germany when Hitler came to power - often claiming that he left the same night Goebbels asked him to join the Nazi party, though available evidence disputes this - and started over in Hollywood. Though Lang made significant contributions to the film noir and western genres with films like ''You Only Live Once'', ''Fury'', ''Western Union'', ''Film/TheWomanInTheWindow'', and ''The Big Heat'', he felt stifled by the restrictive studio system and returned to postwar West Germany, where he continued to make films until he went blind in the mid-1960's.

* CreatorCouple: Lang and von Harbou.
* EnforcedMethodActing
** In ''Film/{{M}}'', there is a shot where Peter Lorre is being chased by the mob, and we see a pair of hands reach out and shove Lorre down a flight of stairs. The hands were Lang's own, and the look of betrayal in Lorre's eyes is because ''he was not told'' that the director was about to shove him down a flight of stairs.
** John Ford, watching a scene in "Western Union" where Randolph Scott tries to burn the ropes off his bound wrists: "Those are Randy's wrists, that is real rope, that is a real fire."
* ExecutiveMeddling: Happened a lot with his Hollywood films.
** In ''Fury'', for instance, he wanted the protagonist to be guilty of the crime the lynch mob attacks him for (which would have been suspiciously similar to ''M''), but a sympathetic criminal protagonist wasn't allowable under the Hays Code.
** ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' was famously eviscerated from 153 minutes to less than 90 by Paramount.
* HypnoticEyes: His recurring character Doctor Mabuse is a VERY early example.
* PrimaDonnaDirector: Lang's perfectionism and cruelty to his actors was legendary. He allegedly threw PeterLorre down a flight of stairs to give him a more authentic battered look and made him work until three in the morning on the set of ''Film/{{M}}'', and forced Brigitte Helm into uncomfortable and life-threatening situations while filming ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. Oh, and he once threw a tantrum because an actress [[RantInducingSlight refused to shave her pubic hair]].

* ShroudedInMyth: Lang is surrounded of outrageous rumours and claims, some of them spread by himself (like when he got an offer from Hermann Göring of becoming an "honorable Aryan" and propaganda filmmaker for NaziGermany), others decidedly not (like when he and his star and lover Thea von Harbou murdered his first wife).
* UnreliableNarrator: Also, he suggested this for the twist ending of [[spoiler: ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'']] -- and if he hadn't been working on ''The Spiders'', he would have directed that film.

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an Austrian director known for his trope-making films in the Golden Age of German and Hollywood cinema. After trying first to be an architect and then a painter, Lang got into the film industry after serving in WorldWarOne, as both a writer and actor before becoming a director. In the early 1920's he met his second wife, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, who he collaborated with on all his films for the next decade. This period included ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', ''Die Nibelungen'', the Dr. Mabuse series, and ''Film/{{M}}'', which are probably his most famous works. Lang left Germany when Hitler came to power - often claiming that he left the same night Goebbels asked him to join the Nazi party, though available evidence disputes this - and started over in Hollywood. Though Lang made significant contributions to the film noir and western genres with films like ''You Only Live Once'', ''Fury'', ''Western Union'', ''Film/TheWomanInTheWindow'', and ''The Big Heat'', he felt stifled by the restrictive studio system and returned to postwar West Germany, where he continued to make films until he went blind in the mid-1960's.

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* ''Dr Mabuse, der Spieler'' (''Film/DrMabuseTheGambler''), 1922: Introduces his recurring villain, Dr. Mabuse.

** Also, in the scene where Lorre is chased by the mob, and thrown down a flight of stairs, Lang [[EnforcedMethodActing actually shoved him down a flight of stairs.]] The hands in the shot there are his.
* CreatorCouple: Lang and von Harbou

* UnreliableNarrator: Lang about his own past, as alleged by biographer Patrick [=McGilligan=]. Also, he suggested this for the twist ending of [[spoiler: ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'']] -- and if he hadn't been working on ''The Spiders'', he would have directed that film.