A Companion to Fritz Lang (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Film Directors)

This collection of critical essays offers an unrivalled and up-to-the-minute assessment of the prolific and resilient life and vision of one of cinema’s greatest auteurs. * The first edited collection of essays on Fritz Lang’s body of work in over thirty years * A comprehensive assessment of one of cinema’s most influential figures * Brings together key scholars, including Tom Gunning and Chris Fujiwara, to share their latest insights * Features translated contributions from writers rarely rendered in English such as Nicole Brenez and Paolo Berletto * Offers multinational and multi-perspectival analysis of Lang’s __oeuvre__, including all his key films A Companion to Fritz Lang 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Contributors 10 Acknowledgments 16 Chapter 1 Introduction 17 Part One: Looking, Power, Interpretation 18 Part Two: Myths, Legends, and Tragic Visions 23 Part Three: Matters of Form 29 Part Four: Rediscoveries and Returns 37 Notes 45 Works Cited 46 Part One Looking, Power, Interpretation 47 Chapter 2 Why Lang Could Become Preferable to Hitchcock 49 Notes 57 Works Cited 58 Chapter 3 While Not Looking: The Failure to See and Know in Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 59 Other Critics, Other Senses 61 Lang and Popular Cinema in Weimar Germany 64 Lighting and Mise-en-Scène 66 Parallel Editing and the Blindness to Events Unfolding Simultaneously 70 Mabuse, the “Viennese Psychoanalyst” 73 Conclusion 74 Notes 75 Works Cited 77 Further Reading 78 Chapter 4 Symptom, Exhibition, Fear: Representations of Terror in the German Work of Fritz Lang 79 A Question of Iconography 79 Speculative Qualities of a Popular Form 82 Representation of the Cause, Dispersal of the Body 84 The System of Terror: Recapitulation 86 Gauging the Image: The Historic Function of Representation 86 Notes 90 Works Cited 90 Chapter 5 Spies: Postwar Paranoia Goes to the Movies 92 Enemies on All Sides 94 Intrigue in the Industry 99 Mass Cultural Invasion 103 Conclusion: Spies’ Cold War 106 Notes 107 Works Cited 108 Chapter 6 Identifying the Suspect: Lang’s M and the Trajectories of Film Criticism 110 Notes 127 Works Cited 128 Chapter 7 The Medium’s Re-Vision: (Or the Doctor as Disease, Diagnostic, and Cure) 130 Dispelled Spells 130 The State of Hysteria 131 A Medium is the Message 136 The Resurrected Vision 141 The Secret of the Open Door 151 Acknowledgments 153 Works Cited 153 Part Two Myths, Legends, and Tragic Visions 155 Chapter 8 Metaphysics of Finitude: Der müde Tod and the Crisis of Historicism 157 The Crisis of Historicism 159 Time and Narrative 161 The Work of Mourning 163 New Worldviews 165 Perpetual Strangers 167 Metaphysics of Finitude 169 Acknowledgments 170 Notes 170 Works Cited 173 Chapter 9 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt and the Caesura 177 Works Cited 190 Chapter 10 Lang contra Wagner: Die Nibelungen as Anti-Adaptation 192 Works Cited 209 Chapter 11 Redemption of Revenge: Die Nibelungen 211 The Queen of the Night 218 Cinema and the Politics of Temporality 226 Ambivalence of Vengeance 230 Notes 232 Works Cited 233 Chapter 12 Furious Union: Fritz Lang and the American West 235 “A Return to Karl May” 237 Outfoxed? 244 Notes 253 Works Cited 256 Chapter 13 “It Was a Horserace Sorta”: Fortunes of Rancho Notorious 258 Notes 270 Works Cited 272 Part Three Matters of Form 273 Chapter 14 Beyond Destiny and Design: Camera Movement in Fritz Lang’s German Films 275 Object Lessons 276 Patterns and Perspectives 285 Notes 292 Works Cited 293 Chapter 15 Fritz Lang: Object and Thing in the German Films 295 The Avant-Garde; Expressionism; the New Objectivity 297 Object and Hand 301 Indexicality and the Object 304 Pattern and Abstraction; Art Objects 308 Writing, Image, and the Thing 311 Notes 314 Works Cited 314 Chapter 16 A Stranger in the House: Fritz Lang’s Fury and the Cinema of Exile 316 The Foreigner’s Gaze 316 Dangers of Displacement 318 America on Trial 322 Rewriting Weimar 324 Imagined Alliances 327 The Insider as Outsider 330 Film as Witness 331 Acknowledgments 334 Notes 334 Chapter 17 Fritz Lang’s Modern Character: You Only Live Once and the Depth of Surface 338 On “Pure Negativity” 341 Picturing Henry Fonda 345 The End of the Line 351 Acknowledgments 354 Notes 354 Works Cited 355 Chapter 18 Joan Bennett, Fritz Lang, and the Frame of Performance 356 A Shift in Persona 357 The Woman in the Window 359 Scarlet Street 362 Secret Beyond the Door 367 Works Cited 372 Chapter 19 “I’d Like to Own That Painting”: Lang, Cézanne, and the Art of Omission 374 The Passion of the Clerk Who Would Be an Artist 374 A Story of Mirroring and Multiplying Clerks 378 The Vibration of Appearances is the Cradle of Things 385 Notes 386 Works Cited 386 Chapter 20 Tumbling Blocks and Queer Ladders: Notions of Home in The Big Heat 387 A Man’s Castle 390 Queer Ladders 395 Bannion’s Descent and Dislocation 402 Notes 405 Works Cited 405 Chapter 21 Metropolis and the Figuration of Eidos 408 The Destruction and Restoration of Metropolis 408 Kunstwollen and Total Cinema 410 Lang’s Figuration: Geometry and Eidos 415 The Reinvention of the Image 416 The Fascination of the Gaze 419 Mise-en-Scène and Symbolic Space 421 The Imaginary 423 The Dimension of Secrecy 424 Notes 426 Works Cited 427 Part Four Rediscoveries and Returns 429 Chapter 22 Not the End: Fritz Lang’s War 431 Eyes on Hitler 435 Eyes off Heydrich 439 Non-Collaboration 443 Notes 444 Works Cited 445 Chapter 23 Classic(al) Lang: Conflicting Impulses in Ministry of Fear 446 Control and Agency 447 Propaganda vs. Narrative Pleasure 448 The Name of the Beast 450 Mood and Tone 450 Noise vs. Silence 450 The Occult vs. Science and Technology 450 Lang vs. Classical Hollywood Cinema 451 A Clock Goes Amok 453 A Man Under the Influence: Ministry of Fear as a Realist Fantasy? 459 Acknowledgments 468 Notes 468 Works Cited 471 Chapter 24 Multiple Reflections: The Woman in the Mirror in Fritz Lang’s Cloak and Dagger 474 Works Cited 488 Chapter 25 Suspended Modernity: On the Last Five Films of Fritz Lang 490 Notes 508 Works Cited 509 Chapter 26 The Limit:House by the River 510 Thresholds 512 Hallucinations, Echoes, Returns 515 Mysteries of Decoupage 516 The Sound that Unsettles 519 Ghosts 521 Perversity and Point of View 522 Vampirism 525 Taste 526 Works Cited 528 Chapter 27 Looking for a Path: Fritz Lang and Clash by Night 530 Bending 530 Abstracting 534 Allegorizing 537 Exhausting 544 Returning 547 Notes 550 Works Cited 550 Chapter 28 Notes on Human Desire (Lang, Renoir, Zola) 552 Lang 553 Zola 557 Renoir 561 Lang 564 Notes 566 Works Cited 569 Chapter 29 Lunar Longings and Rocket Fever: Rediscovering Woman in the Moon 570 Preface: The Enigma of Woman in the Moon 570 In the Shadow of Metropolis 571 Space Rockets and the Narrative of Technology 573 The Production of Woman in the Moon 576 Initial Reception of Woman in the Moon 580 The Earth as Viewed from the Moon: Outer Space as the Vision of Modernity 584 The Space of Technology 586 The Launch 589 Aftermath and Epilogue 595 Notes 598 Works Cited 599 Index 603 End User License Agreement 624 Introduction / Joe Mcelhaney --^ Part One: Looking, Power, Interpretation. Raymond Bellour: Why Lang Could Become Preferable To Hitchcock. Frances Guerin: While Not Looking: The Failure To See And Know In Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler And The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse. Nicole Brenez: Symptom, Exhibition, Fear: Representations Of Terror In The German Work Of Fritz Lang. Paul Dobryden: Spies: Post-war Paranoia Goes To The Movies. Olga Solovieva: Identifying The Suspect: Lang's M And The Trajectories Of Film Criticism. David Phelps: The Medium's Re-vision (or The Doctor As Disease, Diagnostic, And Cure). Part Two: Myths, Legends And Tragic Visions. Nicholas Baer: Metaphysics Of Finitude: Der Müde Tod And The Crisis Of Historicism. Chris Fujiwara: Beyond A Reasonable Doubt And The Caesura. Thomas Leitch: Lang Contra Wagner: Die Nibelungen As Anti-adaptation. Steve Choe: Redemption Of Revenge: Die Nibelungen. Phil Wagner: Furious Union: Fritz Lang And The American West.^ Tom Conley: It Was A Horserace Sorta: Fortunes Of Rancho Notorious. Part Three: Matters Of Form. Daniel Morgan: Beyond Destiny And Design: Camera Movement In Fritz Lang's German Films. Brigitte Peucker: Fritz Lang: Object And Thing In The German Films. Anton Kaes: A Stranger In The House: Fritz Lang's Fury And The Cinema Of Exile. Will Scheibel: Fritz Lang's Modern Character: You Only Live Once And The Depth Of Surface. Steven Rybin: Joan Bennett, Fritz Lang, And The Frame Of Performance. Vinzenz Hediger: I'd Like To Own That Painting: Lang, Cezanne And The Art Of Omission. Pamela Robertson Wojcik: Tumbling Blocks And Queer Ladders: Notions Of Home In The Big Heat. Paolo Bertetto: Metropolis And The Figuration Of Eidos. Part Four: Rediscoveries And Returns. Lutz Koepnick: Not The End: Fritz Lang's War. Jakob Isak Nielsen: Classic(al) Lang: Conflicting Impulses In Ministry Of Fear. Doug Dibbern: Multiple Reflections: The Woman In The Mirror In Fritz Lang's Cloak And Dagger.^ Carlos Losilla: Suspended Modernity: On The Last Five Films Of Fritz Lang. Adrian Martin: The Limit: House By The River. Joe Mcelhaney: Looking For A Path: Fritz Lang And Clash By Night. Sam Ishii-gonzales: Notes On Human Desire (lang, Renoir, Zola). Tom Gunning And Katharina Lloew: Lunar Longings And Rocket Fever: Rediscovering Woman In The Moon. Edited By Joe Mcelhaney. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Content: Introduction / Joe McElhaney -- Act one: looking, power, interpretation. Raymond Bellour: Why Lang could become preferable to Hitchcock -- Frances Guerin: While not looking: the failure to see and know in Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler and The testament of Dr. Mabuse -- Nicole Brenez: Symptom, exhibition, fear: representations of terror in the German work of Fritz Lang -- Paul Dobryden: Spies: post-war paranoia goes to the movies -- Olga Solovieva: Identifying the suspect: Lang's M and the trajectories of film criticism -- David Phelps: The medium's re-vision (or the doctor as disease, diagnostic, and cure) -- Act two: myths, legends and tragic visions. Nicholas Baer: Metaphysics of finitude: Der Müde Tod and the crisis of historicism -- Chris Fujiwara: Beyond a reasonable doubt and The caesura -- Thomas Leitch: Lang contra Wagner: Die Nibelungen as anti-adaptation -- Steve Choe: Redemption of revenge: Die Nibelungen -- Phil Wagner: Furious union: Fritz Lang and the American West -- Tom Conley: It was a horserace sorta: fortunes of rancho notorious -- Act three: matters of form. Daniel Morgan: Beyond destiny and design: camera movement in Fritz Lang's German films -- Brigitte Peucker: Fritz Lang: object and thing in the German films -- Anton Kaes: A stranger in the house: Fritz Lang's fury and the cinema of exile -- Will Scheibel: Fritz Lang's modern character: You only live once and The depth of surface -- Steven Rybin: Joan Bennett, Fritz Lang, and the frame of performance -- Vinzenz Hediger: I'd like to own that painting: Lang, Cezanne and the art of omission -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik: Tumbling blocks and queer ladders: notions of home in The big heat -- Paolo Bertetto: Metropolis and the figuration of Eidos -- Act four: rediscoveries and returns. Lutz Koepnick: Not the end: Fritz Lang's war -- Jakob Isak Nielsen: Classic(al) Lang: conflicting impulses in Ministry of fear -- Doug Dibbern: Multiple reflections: The woman in the mirror in Fritz Lang's Cloak and dagger -- Carlos Iosilla: Suspended modernity: on the last five films of Fritz Lang -- Adrian Martin: The limit: House by the river -- Joe McElhaney: Looking for a path: Fritz Lang and Clash by night -- Sam Ishii-Gonzales: Notes on human desire (Lang, Renoir, Zola) -- Tom Gunning and Katharina Lloew: Lunar longings and Rocket fever: rediscovering woman in the moon. A Companion to Fritz Lang "Fritz Lang's movie-making spans a major part of the history of cinema, across genres, styles, and national contexts. With smartness and sharpness, the essays in this essential volume come from many angles to capture the richness of Lang's cinema and bring great insight to its study." Dana Polan, Cinema Studies, NYU Fritz Lang's influence on cinema cannot be overstated, with a career that stretched from the silent era in Germany to the decline of the Hollywood studio system in the late 1950s, from the Weimar Republic to Nazi Germany, from Depression America to the McCarthy era. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, Lang is also credited with influencing the emergence of film noir. A Companion to Fritz Lang offers the first full-scale collection of scholarship available in English on one of the most important filmmakers of all time. Addressing much of Lang's voluminous body of work, from Metropolis and M , to lesser-known titles such as Western Union and Clash by Night , this volume offers a superb overview of Lang's cinema with revealing insights into his enduring influence on directors such as Godard, Scorsese, Chabrol, and Tarantino. The two dozen essays presented here are an unrivaled and up-to-the-minute assessment of the prolific and resilient life and vision of one of cinema's greatest auteurs.

This collection of critical essays offers an unrivalled and up-to-the-minute assessment of the prolific and resilient life and vision of one of cinema’s greatest auteurs.

• The first edited collection of essays on Fritz Lang’s body of work in over thirty years
• A comprehensive assessment of one of cinema’s most influential figures
• Brings together key scholars, including Tom Gunning and Chris Fujiwara, to share their latest insights
• Features translated contributions from writers rarely rendered in English such as Nicole Brenez and Paolo Berletto
• Offers multinational and multi-perspectival analysis of Lang’s oeuvre, including all his key films

This anthology collection of critical essays on one of cinema's great auteurs provides a vital reappraisal at a time when Fritz Lang's prolific output is attracting renewed scholarly attention. * The latest critical perspectives reflecting renewed interest in this master auteur. * A comprehensive assessment of one of cinema's most influential figures. * Key scholars share their newest insights, including Tom Gunning, Janet Bergstrom, and Chris Fujiwara. * Features translated contributions from writers rarely rendered in English such as Nicole Brenez and Paolo Berletto. * Multinational and multi-perspectival analysis of Lang's oeuvre, including all his key films This collection of critical essays offers an unrivalled and up-to-the-minute assessment of the prolific and resilient life and vision of one of cinema's greatest authors. The first edited collection of essays on Fritz Lang's body of work in over thirty years A comprehensive assessment of one of cinema's most influential figures Brings together key scholars, including Tom Gunning and ChrisFujiwara, to share their latest insights Features translated contributions from writers rarely rendered in English such as Nicole Brenez and Paolo Berletto Offers multinational and multi-perspectival analysis of Lang's