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Breakfast the Fritz Lang way: Martinis with scrambled eggs (and a toy monkey)
03.03.2014
09:10 am
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Fritz Lang and friend
Fritz Lang and friend
 
The record seems clear on this point. Fritz Lang loved monkeys, and especially toy monkey dolls that he could pretend were his constant companions. The best-known of the succession of toy monkeys was called Peter, but possibly all of them were called Peter, it’s not really clear.

Here’s some testimony on the subject, courtesy of Fritz Lang. His Life and Work: Photographs and Documents, edited by Rolf Aurich, Wolfgang Jacobsen, and Cornelius Schnauber:
 

Lang had a rather touchingly tender, sentimentally boyish relationship to Peter the Monkey: he took him with him on trips, put him to bed, dressed him up and posed in pictures with him. In the countless letters he exchanged with his lifelong friend Eleanor Rose, there are many passages devoted to Peter: for example, greetings from him for Magali, Eleanor Rose’s favorite cat; or letters directly addressed to Peter or “written” by Peter to Eleanor:

“Peter sends his warmest regards. He is meditating a great deal and enjoying the California sun. He loves martinis, smokes a long pipe now and again, and has taken to chewing gum. He sends his compliments to Magali and wishes her the best.”—Fritz Lang to Eleanor Rose, July 30, 1963

 
I found that quotation from this “Old Hollywood” blog—there’s slightly more on the subject there, so be sure to check it out.
 
Fritz Lang and friend
Fritz Lang and Peter the Monkey at home, c. 1960’s
 

As you can see from the quotation, Peter the Monkey favored martinis, according to Lang. In fact, Peter liked to have them for breakfast. Well-known Hollywood biographer Charlotte Chandler, author of books on Groucho Marx, Alfred Hitchcock, Mae West, Billy Wilder, Bette Davis, etc., had first-person experience with Lang’s morning repasts:
 

It was his favorite breakfast—scrambled eggs with martinis. Or rather, martinis with scrambled eggs. It was a breakfast he preferred, and he preferred not to eat it too early in the morning. There were scrambled eggs for two, Fritz and me, and two martinis—one for Fritz and one for Peter, who was sitting at the table with us. Peter was a German felt monkey doll who wore his sailor cap at a rakish angle, a turtleneck sweater, a gold earring in one ear, and a suave, urbane look on his face that indicated he knew Hamburg’s St. Pauli district well. Fritz always ordered a martini for Peter, who was his mascot and alter ego. Then he helped Peter drink it.

 
(For those puzzled about the biography of Lang that Chandler never wrote, her account appears in the Anthology Film Archives book Fritz Lang 2000, edited by Robert Haller.)

Here’s Lang being interviewed by William Friedkin in 1975:
 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Tales of the Unexpected: William Friedkin interviews Fritz Lang
Fantastic explanations of the movie trickery in Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis,’ 1927

Posted by Martin Schneider
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03.03.2014
09:10 am
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Fantastic explanations of the movie trickery in Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis,’ 1927
09.06.2013
02:59 pm
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Metropolis, behind the scenes
 
A great find by Mike Novak at Smithsonian Magazine proves that movie fans were just as interested in “special effects” as any fan of Star Wars, Alien, Terminator 2, The Matrix, or Avatar—a June 1927 issue of Science and Technology magazine laying out the innovative techniques behind Fritz Lang’s masterpiece Metropolis.

Metropolis is one of the greatest, most astonishing movies ever made—it still holds up. Indeed, it’s arguably the only movie from the silent era that has widespread currency among younger viewers today. That’s how good it is. Imagery from Metropolis is something of a staple in our culture—you can often spot it in random montages of miscellaneous footage, and especially in Queen’s video to “Radio Ga Ga,” which ends with the words, “Thanks to Metropolis.” (I should hope so!)

If you’ve seen the movie, the crowd scenes and the close-up shots of electricity surrounding certain characters—these shots are done so well that you hardly stop to ask how they were done. It turns out that Lang’s brilliance didn’t stop at composition and thematic storytelling—he was tinkering at the very edges of what could be done in motion pictures, a theme that is right at home with—and yet at odds with—the moral and message of the movie itself.
 
Metropolis, behind the scenes
 
Metropolis, behind the scenes
 
Be sure to see the rest at Smithsonian Magazine; Novak’s explanations of the various pictures are excellent.

Here’s part 1 of the recently restored Metropolis:

 
After the jump, parts 2 and 3 of the restored movie….

READ ON
Posted by Martin Schneider
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09.06.2013
02:59 pm
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How Fritz Lang escaped the Nazis

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Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Fritz Lang explains how his meeting with Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Mad Man of Nazi propaganda, made him flee Germany the very same day.

Director of Metropolis and M, Lang had been called to see Goebbels over his undisguised attack on Hitler in his 1933 film, The Testament of Dr Mabuse - which the Nazis had banned. Instead of the expected interrogation and inevitable incarceration, Doctor Goebbels offered Lang the unexpected position of Head of the National Socialist Film Studios. Goebbels explained that both he and Herr Furher hoped the director would accept. Goebbels then offered his advice on the ending of The Testament of Dr Mabuse, which he had found unsatisfactory. Instead of Mabuse going mad, it would have been better if the mobs had destroyed him with their wrath.

It’s a good story, even if the facts don’t add up. One that’s worth retelling - just to hear Lang build up the dramatic tension with his powers of descriptive narration.
 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds

Tales of the Unexpected: William Friedkin interviews Fritz Lang


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.14.2012
07:11 pm
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Tales of the Unexpected: William Friedkin interviews Fritz Lang

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According to the great director Fritz Lang, it was his meeting with Joseph Goebbels, the Mad Man of Nazi propaganda, that led him to flee Germany the very same day.

As Lang tells it, this fateful meeting came sometime around Goebbels’ ban on Lang’s 1933 film, The Testament of Dr Mabuse, which was outlawed for its veiled attack on Hitler and his vile policies. Amongst the oft quoted similarities between Lang’s film and the insane Furher, was Dr. Mabuse’s devilish plan for a 1,000 years of crime, and Hitler’s desire of a 1,000 year Reich. The unstated connection between brutal criminality and looney-tunes Nazis was there for all to see.

It’s a good story, but one that has little bearing on fact, as it now appears that the meeting never took place. Goebbels’ diaries have no mention of the alleged meeting, and Lang’s escape from the jackboot of National-Socialism didn’t happen until several months after the alleged job offer from Dr Joe.

More damaging in hindsight was Lang’s failure to make any reference to his own Jewish ancestry. His mother, Paula was Jewish, though she converted to Catholicism after marrying Lang’s father, Anton. Instead Fritz described himself as an “Austrian director”, at a time when the persecution of those of Jewish faith was a brutal reality on the streets of Germany. Indeed describing himself as an “Austrian director” could have been construed as aligning himself with the birth country of the Furher.

Later, while living in the safety of the United States, Lang said in his entry for Current Biography - “While many famous Jewish directors had to flee Germany because of the ‘Aryan’ work decrees, Lang, a Christian, fled only because he is a believer in democratic government.”

Okay, so Lang could argue that man made laws had no rule over him, as he believed in the Higher Court of his Christian God. Fine. But why persist in re-telling a fanciful tale forty years on?

Almost everyone tells lies, and the lies are not important. Some people are loved because of their ability to tell great lies, and we listen expectantly for them to tell their biggest and best whoppers. And so it is with Lang, as he tells tale after tale in this entertaining and immensely watchable interview with director of The Exorcist, William Friedkin. From running away from home, to surviving by his wits, to making his classic films Metropolis and M, to meetings with criminals and murderers - one killer kept the hands of victims under his bed, to his meeting with the Nazi Mad Man, to Hollywood and after, Lang, looking rather like Dr Strangelove, describes his hugely fantastic life.
 

 
With thanks to Wendy James
 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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04.18.2012
05:46 pm
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Giorgio Moroder’s ‘Metropolis’
10.06.2011
05:05 pm
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A new HD presentation of the Giorgio Moroder-scored version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis will take place at Cinefamily in Los Angeles for ten screenings from October 7th through October 11th:

The legendary rockin’ alternate version of Fritz Lang’s silent sci-fi classic, on the big screen for the first time in almost thirty years! In 1981, electronic music pioneer/three-time Oscar-winning composer Giorgio Moroder began a years-long endeavor to restore Metropolis, the very first attempt since the film’s original 1920s release. During the process, Moroder gave the film a controversial new score, which included pop songs from some of the biggest stars of the early MTV era (Pat Benatar, Billy Squier, Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler, Adam Ant, Jon Anderson and more!) Missing footage was also re-edited back into the film, intertitles were removed and replaced with subtitles, and sound effects/color tinting were added, creating an all new experience, and an all-new film. But for more than a quarter century, Moroder’s Metropolis has remained out of circulation, until now. Utilizing one of the few remaining prints available, Kino Lorber has created a brand-new HD transfer in the best possible quality — just as it was seen in its August 1984 release!

More information at Cinefamily’s website. Tickets are $10, free for members. Kino Lorber are going to release the Moroder version of Metropolis on DVD and Blu-ray by year’s end.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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10.06.2011
05:05 pm
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Rock and roll time warp: Link Wray meets Fritz Lang
09.01.2010
04:04 am
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Supremely groovy. Link Wray plays ‘Ace Of Spades’ while Maria does her dance from Metropolis.

Posted by Marc Campbell
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09.01.2010
04:04 am
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