1.3 / Fritz Lang & Thea von Harbou, Pt. I: Seduction, Spectacle, and the Birth of Nazism
On the set of Metropolis.
Weimar cinema’s ultimate power couple…
Through movies like Destiny, Die Nibelungen, and Metropolis, the husband/wife team of director Fritz Lang and screenwriter Thea von Harbou helped establish Berlin as Hollywood’s one true rival. But their emergence as international celebrities paralleled the rise of a certain failed artist storming through the beer halls of Munich.
Destiny, Die Nibelungen, and Metropolis are available for free on YouTube.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you listen.
Images
Podcasts have their limits, especially podcasts about a medium as visual as film. Below are some images that may enrich your experience with this episode.
The couple in question.
Berhard Goetzke, Lil Dagover, and a baby in 1921’s Destiny (Der müde Tod), the first major Lang/von Harbou collaboration.
Siegfried battles a dragon in Die Nibelungen.
Even in 1924, the character of Alberich the Dwarf King was recognized as an antisemitic caricature. Unsurprisingly, Hitler and the Nazis were big fans of Die Nibelungen.
Kracauer comparing the aesthetics of Die Nibelungen to Nazi pageantry.
Nazis participating in the 1923’s unsuccessful Beer Hall Putsch.
Defendants in the Beer Hall Putsch trial, including Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff, architect of the stab-in-the-back myth.
Stills from Metropolis. The robot costume was so tight and rigid that it dug into actor Brigitte Helm’s skin for hours during the filming of the transformation sequence. She later described Metropolis as the worst experience of her life.
The design of Tim Burton’s Batman films (above) and Blade Runner (below) borrowed heavily from Metropolis.
Janelle Monáe’s first two albums, Metropolis: The Chase Suite and The ArchAndroid, were directly inspired by the film.