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,…

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…

Silent Summer

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…

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…

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…

Dark sih nih film, komedi tapi endingnya dark, yang bikinnya juga dari master of dark. Underrated mungkin dibanding film Fritz Lang yang lain. Seru sih ini film, ceritanya gak ketebak, set lokasi bulannya juga bagus udah kayak asli, cuma mirip pasir di gurun tanahnya. Yang bikin film ini lebih seru di awal2 kita disuguhi konflik antara sesama ilmuwan yang mengira kalo pergi ke bulan cuma ingin ngambil sebongkah emas adalah hal yang gila, film ini juga memiliki tokoh penjahat yang juga ingin ikut ke bulan hanya untuk mengambil sebongkah emas tersebut ya akhirnya juga ikut.

Film sci-fi komedi yang di selipin drama cinta segitiga, tapi dikit sih dramanya gak kayak First Man makanya filmnya juga lebih seru.

Film ini dianggap…

It really is arguable that I could have built a rocket, zoomed to the moon and came back safely in the time it took me to watch Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond. 169 minutes is not a runtime to be mocked. It is a serious runtime. Too serious. Fritz Lang is not messing about. This may be an early science fiction effort, but it takes 90 minutes before you even get to take-off. This is as much melodrama as it is sci-fi. This is not solely a complaint however, because a lot of the first 90 minutes are great fun. The playful intrigue, the devilish Fritz Rasp (Hitler haircut, gormless sneer) and languid interactions are really quite good. However, we…

Lang‘s letzter Stummfilm ist, wie Metropolis zuvor, wieder ein monumentaler Sciencefictionfilm, diesmal über die abenteuerliche Reise Zum Mond.

Wieder einmal gibt er und Thea von Harbour, die das Drehbuch schrieb, uns einige Gesellschaftskritische Aspekte auf den Weg. Wettrüsten, das stehlen von Informationen und geistigen Eigentum, bis hin zur Zusammenarbeit durch Drohung der existenziellen Vernichtung.

Alles immer noch aktuelle Themen und viele wissenschaftliche Fakten so wie Theorien werden uns mit präziser Vorhersage um die Ohren geworfen. Das eine kleine Rakete, nur ausgestattet mit Kameras, vorher die Mondumlaufbahn umkreist um die Oberfläche zu Kartografieren, war für mich erstaunlich gut durchdacht. Das bisher noch kein Gold auf dem Mond gefunden wurde überrascht keinen mehr und die Weltraumschiff- Insassen schlafen auf Tragen wie auf…

Probably the first semi-serious space travel epic: we're not taking "Aelita Queen of Mars" seriously right?

Despite being at least a half-hour too long and weighed down by a goofy evil-gold-cabal conflict, this still qualifies as an epic though it sure won't make you forget "Metropolis." The professor's introductory scenes make him both sympathetic and utterly bonkers; he's a compelling character for the first half-hour while the viewer is trying to figure out where this is all going.

Lang plays his usual visual tricks with the intertitles, even blowing up holes in them in one instance. By 1929 standards the moon scenes are excellent, though needless to say the whole "far-side-has-oxygen" concept was ludicrous even then. With the love triangle…