Fritz Lang

by Lotte H. Eisner

Fritz Lang, almost alone among his fellow continental refugees, was able to make outstanding films in both his native Germany and his adopted Hollywood. The director of Metropolis and M and Dr. Mabuse came to America in 1934 and began a long and distinguished career that included such films as You Only Live Once, The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street, Ministry of Fear, Rancho Notorious, and The Big Heat. He is a key figure in the history of film noir, bringing to the screen a fatalist's vision of a menacing world of criminals, misfits, and helpless victims, and providing a distinctive visual look to every film he directed. This film-by-film study of Lang's oeuvre by one of the great film historians combines personal insight—Eisner and Lang had a long standing friendship—with deep historical understanding of Lang's roots in German culture and cinema. Both true modernists, Eisner and Lang are perfectly matched, as this book clearly demonstrates.

Genres: Film, Biography, Media Tie In, Criticism

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Lotte Henriette Eisner was born in Berlin as a daughter of a Jewish merchant and his wife. After studies in Berlin and Munich, from 1927 she worked as a theater and film critic for German newspapers. Among others, she wrote for Film-Kurier, a daily film newspaper published in Berlin.

In 1933 she fled from Germany to France to avoid the rising anti-Jewish persecution by the Nazis. During World War II she hid for a time, but finally was caught and interned in the French concentration camp at the town of Gurs in Aquitaine, France. (Foreign Jews were interned as aliens.) She managed to survive the war, and after the Liberation she returned to Paris.

She worked closely with Henri Langlois, the founder of the Cinémathèque Française. She worked there from 1945 as a Chief Archivist until her retirement in 1975.

Lotte H. Eisner continued to write for the monthly Cahiers du Cinéma and La Revue du Cinéma. In 1974, learning that Eisner was seriously ill and on the verge of death, the German film director Werner Herzog walked from Munich to Paris to visit her, in the faith that she would be well again when he arrived. His journey is recounted in Herzog's book Of Walking in Ice. She had been a mentor to him.

Reviews

[Nicholas Mennuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lotte Eisner knows both Fritz Lang and the expressionist roots he sprang from (see her Haunted Screen as well). Her interest in Lang is primarily aesthetic and narrative, so anyone looking for bio will have to turn somewhere else. That said, her analysis of consistencies in both Lang's content and shooting style are worth reading. Hard to recommend for a casual film fan -- you've really got to want to know more than your standard bio will give you about Lang to dive into this one. Also would help to have prior interest/knowledge in German Expressionism too.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful study on Fritz Lang's work by the no. 1 expert on German Expressionist cinema. Warner Herzog took a long walk from Munich to Paris to save her life. This book probably made him take the trip!

[Steve Bowbrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eisner is cinema criticism royalty and she's one of those extraordinary 20th Century Europeans too. Scarred and brilliant. Her Lang book is an absolutely vital text (and, incidentally, I love the fact that she came across Louise Brooks on the set of Pabst's Pandora’s Box, reading Schopenhauer).

I included this book in this survey of books about film.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most legendary film directors ever. Here you'll read his autobiography, hear about early films and scripts, Dr Mabuse, The Nibelungen, Metropolis, The Spy, his working methods and style, the French interlude, his American period. Everything you'll want to know you'll find here. With many movie stills and photos. Really recommended!

[TYL LE · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was nice hand-holding as you go through the movies of Lang, but a remarkable part of the book is just listing off plot in movies. I think this book is a product of an age where every lang movie wasn’t just available 1 click an away and you could get all the synopsis on Wikipedia. Still it is also filled with cool insights and view from Lang himself. Worthwhile if you like Fritz Lang.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

El sitio de Viena de Carlos Losilla

[Kendal · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a description of his films than anything else. Lang was private, and wanted his work to speak for itself--including the silent films.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In-depth Fritz with pictures

You already know something about Fritz Lang or you would not be reading this. Lotte Eisner goes further in-depth into what Fritz is and what he has accomplished through the years.
There is a small Fritz Lang: Autobiography

Then the book is chronologically divided between the German years 1919-1933 and the American period of 1936-1956. Then it goes to the German years of 1959-60.
Because I have a large collection of German silent films this book is a must in helping understand those messages that are not intrinsic to the viewer.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In-depth Fritz with pictures

You already know something about Fritz Lang, or you would not be reading this. Lotte Eisner goes further in-depth into what Fritz is and what he has accomplished through the years.
There is a small Fritz Lang: Autobiography

Then the book is chronologically divided between the German years 1919-1933 and the American period of 1936-1956. Then it goes to the German years of 1959-60.
Because I have a large collection of German silent films this book is a must in helping understand those messages that are not intrinsic to the viewer.

[Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

This must have been a nice monograph in hardcover what with all the glossy archival production pictures but the paperback edition brings Eisner's perfunctory film synopses and only adequate insights on Lang's cinema to the fore. Anyone seriously interested in Lang would do better to look into the Fritz Lang edition of the Conversations with Filmmakers series.

[Zepp · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intimate film by film account of Lang's career- a little too easy on the warts, but with lots of good facts and facts.

[Sikandar Marwah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an essential for Fritz Lang fans. Fritz Lang himself corrected and added additional information to every chapter. Changes that the author applied.