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“Friedrich Christian Anton “Fritz” Lang (December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976) was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the “Master of Darkness” by the British Film Institute. His most famous films are the groundbreaking «Metropolis» (the world's most expensive silent film at the time of its release) and «M», made before he moved to the United States, his iconic precursor to the film noir genre.

«Metropolis» is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, «Metropolis» is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and owners inherent in capitalism, as expressed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The film was produced in the Babelsberg Studios by Universum Film A.G. (UFA). The most expensive silent film ever made, it cost approximately 5 million Reichsmark, or approximately $200 million when adjusted for inflation.

«Metropolis» was cut substantially after its German premiere, and much footage was lost over the passage of successive decades. There have been several efforts to restore it, as well as discoveries of previously lost footage. A 2001 reconstruction of «Metropolis», shown at the Berlin Film Festival, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in that same year”. – Wikipedia


Fritz Lang

German expressionist director Fritz Lang (1890-1976) at work in the Staaken district of Berlin, filming “Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler”. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1922




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Set designers constructing a futuristic city scene in miniature for Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1925




Fritz Lang, Metropolis



Fritz Lang, Metropolis



Fritz Lang, Metropolis

The film set being flooded during the production of the German silent classic Metropolis, which is set in the year 2000 and directed by Fritz Lang. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1926




Fritz Lang, Metropolis



Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Rudolf Klein-Rogge and the robot being prepared for a scene in the film Metropolis, a futuristic vision directed by Fritz Lang (centre). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Crca 1926




Fritz Lang, Metropolis, Brigitte Helm, evil robot Maria

Brigitte Helm (1906–1996) plays the evil robot Maria in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, a vision of life in the year 2000 where workers in a modernistic city labour underground. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1927




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Filming a scene of the German classic Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1926




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Setting up an elevator scene for the film Metropolis, a vision of the year 2000 where the workers of a modernistic city labour underground. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1926




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

An office scene from Fritz Lang's futuristic masterpiece Metropolis, set in the year 2000. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1927




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Workmen steadying a delicately balanced prop on which an actress is perched. She is portraying the wh*re Of Babylon sitting astride a seven-headed serpent, in the Fritz Lang German classic Metropolis. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1926




Fritz Lang, Metropolis



Fritz Lang, Metropolis

Austrian director Fritz Lang at work on his futuristic vision Metropolis. Dark buildings can be seen enclosing a group of young men sitting and paddling in a large expanse of water. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)




Fritz Lang, Metropolis

The exterior of a well-lit cinema showing Fritz Lang's Metropolis, in Vahamorf Platz, Berlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1927




Fritz Lang

Austrian born American film director Fritz Lang. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1930
20 Aug 2011 11:50:00