Synopsis
A scientist discovers that there's gold on the moon. He builds a rocket to fly there, but there's too much rivalry among the crew to have a successful expedition.
Woman in the Moon
1929 ‘Frau im Mond’ Directed by Fritz Lang
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Alternative Titles
By Rocket to the Moon, Girl in the Moon, Die Frau im Mond
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Popular reviews
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fritz lang made many famous films in america but i'll always prefer the fantastical silent epics he made in pre-war germany with his then-wife (and future national socialist) thea von harbou as screenwriter. lang's last silent, 'frau im mond,' is often heralded as the first scientifically plausible sci-fi film. unfairly overshadowed by the flashier 'metropolis,' it's an eminently enjoyable melodrama clearly inspired by comics and pulp fiction adventure tales, which lang collected. the outsized characters include an entrepreneur and his assistant, both in love with the female scientist who insists on accompanying them on their trip, a half-mad professor whose theories about moongold inspired the project, the devious henchman for a gang of international capitalists out to hijack the mission,…
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Fritz Lang's Woman in the Moon is best known for its attention to the technical aspects of space traveling, including the employment of an actual rocket scientist as an advisor, the depiction of a multistage rocket, and what is widely considered the first use of a countdown to launch. In addition, as with Lang's Metropolis the use of miniatures for the rocket and its launch is breathtakingly clever and completely effective.
For me, though, what makes the movie so memorable and so charming is the remarkable attention paid by Lang and screenwriter/novelist Thea von Harbou to the little details of certain personalities and relationships in the film. I mean, when a story about science and ambition and conquering space dedicates…
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even fritz lang cannot avoid the usual failings of speculative sci-fi films -- the long sequences of jargon-heavy exposition, the fact that scientists and businessmen hanging around in boardrooms generally isn't incredibly exciting to watch, obnoxiously boring scenes of people getting on-and-off spaceships -- but that still doesn't stop woman in the moon from being exemplary of his approach to science fiction in general, with a huge focus on at-the-time accurate models of how space travel could actually work, models which then predicted many of the actual techniques later used by NASA and the soviet union (like the multi-stage rocket). lang cautions his optimistic exuberance for lunar exploration (the titular woman) with a sobering realization that these gigantic leaps in…
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A charming, heart-stopping, and finally hauntingly beautiful ode to the starry-eyed fantasies and unbound ambitions of man… as well as an austere study of science’s terribly risky yet sadly necessary relationship with the evil of greed. Besides being a jaw-dropping adventure, especially with the first countdown to launch, Woman in the Moon also works as a character study that delves into the mind of a scientist, who's stubborn in his ambition yet, at heart, perhaps doing what he does for a hopelessly unrequited love.
All the characters are fantastic and memorable; I just loved being around them all. (Well, perhaps with the minor exception of a small child that just had to be put in this film, but one that…
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By 1929, silent film really was the superior form of cinema. Its storytelling abilities were unmatched compared to the sound films just coming in. So a film like Woman in the Moon is so fluid, dynamic, and compelling that it seems a decade ahead of its time despite the lack of sound.
This is a serious sci-fi movie and not some b-movie pulp. Rockets are treated with respect and the film presents interesting scientific theories and hypotheticals. The science is shown in great detail, presumably because the 1920s audience had less of a conception of space travel as a narrative trope. Clearly a lot of time was spent thinking about science and logistics when making Woman in the…
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A really hard one to review as there is no denying that it was more of a slog than Metropolis, Spies or Dr Mabuse, the unveiling and launch of the rocket seems to happen in real time, spectacular, scientifically detailed real time but still real time. But it was still enjoyable with a lot of real highlights, including that rocket launch, which shares so much with familiar real life 60s space race images that you get quite taken aback when you remember when this was made.
It's an intriguing piece of science fiction, there is a lot of time spent on pressure and the dangers of space travel, and the plot revolves around them having enough oxygen for the crew…
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Helius, do you want to shame me as a woman? The eyes of the world are on us.
Lang predicts the moon landing 40 years before, but dares even more in the title: a woman took part in it.
The feminist aspect, probably contributed by Lang's wife here co-writer, is evident only from a single scene in which Helius invites the woman astronaut to give up this dangerous exploration (the review opening line), while the romantic aspect distorts the fate of the entire film.The amazing thing is, this woman, precisely on the moon, falls in love.
On Earth she does not seem to be totally indifferent to Helius, in any case she chooses to get engaged, without apparent enthusiasm,… -
Fritz Lang's only other science fiction film other than the world renowned Metropolis is the underseen and long forgotten Woman in the Moon, considered by many as the first attempt at realism in the depiction of space travel.
At nearly three hours in length, Lang's passion for documentary style detail is allowed to run wild over the course of this epic. Partly pulp fiction and partly in the domain of believability, it eerily predicts many aspects of the moon landings that would become a reality forty years later, such as the countdown before liftoff and jettisoning unneeded weight after takeoff, however it rapidly departs from credibility the minute the moon is reached e.g. the first priority upon landing is to…
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An ambitious, charming sci-fi epic from Lang. Perhaps not as involving as his other silent epics but still this one is very impressive on various levels. Lang's direction is terrific, it's fairly dynamic and flows well, it's beautifully shot, there are some great moments and it's extremely well performed — also it's fine exploration of greed, love, passion, bravery and cowardice. The most impressive thing is perhaps the way it presents the scientific aspects in great detail, for that period it tries to follow real science behind space travel and that genuinely is something brilliant. Overall narratively it could've little more engaging but still a highly impressive and entertaining piece of work, and most importantly one that exposes American lies about landing on the moon first.
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5 Directors x 5 Unseen Films - Round VI: Film #19
I believe Josefine needs some cognac.
The early days of space travel, when you would only pack the most important things, such as mice, booze and comic books.
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Even when it's a fun genre I'm always drawn to like science fiction, nearly three hours of silent film is hard to take, and the title of this one by Fritz Lang is a mislead, as the lady on the ship crew heading to the moon barely even has a subplot to play with (she's part of a love triangle, the end), let alone the primary thrust of this story justifying its very moniker. Consider this more like a closer-to-scientifically-plausible and soap opera-y "Le Voyage dans la Lune". Over half the 170 minutes takes place on Earth, showing the impetus for this voyage (gotta collect that moon gold!), some complications (villains blackmail their way aboard!) and the intricate preparation process…
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February 2019
Scavenger Hunt #47
TASK #7: A silent film in your favorite genre!Celebrated director Fritz Lang returns to science fiction two years after Metropolis to bring us Woman in the Moon, one of the most magnificent and criminally overlooked examples of the genre I've ever witnessed, working not only as a jaw-dropping space fantasy adventure but also as a haunting and thought-provoking character study.
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