Class by Adrian Martin
Fritz Lang (1890-1976) is among the most acclaimed and influential film directors in cinema history. An even bolder claim can be staked: he is not only among the greatest, but his work is something that must be experienced and understood in all its breadth and depth, whether you are a filmmaker, a film critic, a film student or simply a film lover.
Like every classic filmmaker, Lang’s reputation arrives in the 21st century surrounded by myths, clichés, fuzzy impressions, and woefully inadequate appreciations. He is said to be an artist obsessed by timeless, universal, metaphysical themes of Fate and Destiny; his German films (1919-1933) are vaguely linked to a presentiment of the rise of Nazism; many critics still today bemoan his supposed rapid decline within the American system (1936-1956). He is sometimes unkindly painted as a cold, unfeeling, sadistic, mechanical director. Lang himself seemed happy to play along with at least some of these myths in his immortal turn as the beleaguered but wise filmmaker in Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt (1963).
Over the past 30 years or so, another, rather different vision of Lang as artist and storyteller has emerged. His films are better apprehended, today, as responses to numerous levels of social change during the 20th century – in particular, the rise of industrial modernity (technology, mass media, surveillance … ). Lang crystallized all of this in what American scholar Tom Gunning has called the Destiny-Machine: a sense of society as a vast prison, crushing its individual inhabitants. Whether we are looking at the unforgettable Expressionist images of workers are literally cogs in a machine in Metropolis (1927) or the grim ironies of the legal justice system closing in on the characters of Scarlet Street (1945), this idea rings true.
Above all, Lang is of extraordinary significance – on par with Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Bresson, Chantal Akerman, and very few others – as the true inventor of a film language and a film style. From the 1920s onward, Lang based the syntax of his images and scenes on canny fragmentation and associative connection – and when sound technology came along, he immediately mastered those creative possibilities, as well. Lang embroiled his spectators in what I call ‘guess work’: every expectation, every implication, every inference threaded into the narrative is successively diverted, upended, mocked, chastised. Figuring out the how and why of this process – another way in which Lang endlessly negotiated his position ‘inside the machine’ – is an endlessly fascinating business.
The class will look at five highlights or aspects of Lang’s remarkable career – each session will concentrate on one or two special films, but also draw connections to closely related titles from his filmography. No prior reading is necessary, but I will be providing pointers for further reading, for those who want to delve deeper. My talks will be pre-recorded to allow the use of screenshots and clips (we will be unable to keep the clips in the CineJourneys YouTube archive for copyright reasons), but I will be live and present for the ensuing discussions.
There are two weekly calls for people to choose from:
Saturdays at 2pm EDT, 8pm CET beginning September 6th, 2025.
Wednesdays at 2pm EDT, 8pm CET beginning September 17th, 2025.
Outline of Class:
9/6/2025 – Week 1: Lang’s German Years (1919-1933)
Major film discussed: Metropolis (1927)
Other films that will be mentioned (non-obligatory viewing): Spione / Spies (1928), Destiny / Der müde Tod (1921)
9/13/2025 – Week 2: Serial Killers & Mad Geniuses
Major film discussed: M (1931)
Other films that will be mentioned (non-obligatory viewing): Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
9/20/2025 – Week 3: Lang’s American Years (1936-1956) Part 1: The Social Issue Picture
Major film discussed: Fury (1936)
Other films that will be mentioned (non-obligatory viewing): You Only Live Once (1937), You and Me (1938)
9/27/2025 – Week 4: Lang’s American Years, Part 2: Noir Mystery-Thriller
Major film discussed: Scarlet Street (1945)
Other films that will be mentioned (non-obligatory viewing): The Woman in the Window (1944), Secret Beyond the Door … (1947)
10/4/2025 – Week 5: Fantasies, Adventures, Westerns, and Final German Films
Major film discussed: The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
Other films that will be mentioned (non-obligatory viewing): Moonfleet (1955), Rancho Notorious (1952), The Tiger of Eschnapur & The Indian Tomb (1959)
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