Lang, Fritz, 1890-1976

Film director.

From the description of Reminiscences of Fritz Lang : oral history, 1971. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122419547

Fritz Lang (1890-1976), born in Vienna, was a motion picture director who began his career as a scriptwriter. He began his filmmaking career in Berlin after World War I. Many of the scripts he wrote in the 1920s were co-written by his wife, Thea Von Harbou. His German films include "Metropolis," "M," and "Dr. Mabuse." He fled Nazi Germany in 1933, and came to Hollywood in 1934. His American films include "Fury," "The Return of Jesse James," "Western Union," "Man Hunt," "Cloak and Dagger," "The Blue Gardenia," "The Big Heat," and "While the City Sleeps."

From the description of Fritz Lang papers, ca. 1909-1973. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 27582253

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an Austrian-American film director who began his film career as a scriptwriter. Many of the scripts he wrote in the 1920s were co-written by his wife, Theo Von Harbou. Lang fled Germany in 1933. By 1936 he was in Hollywood, where he directed films for twenty years, until his differences with producers led to his leaving Hollywood. He directed films in India until 1959 when he returned to Germany. In 1963 he portrayed himself in the French film “Mopris” which was directed by Jean-Luc Goddard.

His early films in America, as in “Fury” in 1936 and “You Only Live Once” in 1937, were about social injustice. He then directed westerns and psychological mysteries, including “The Woman at the Window” in 1944 and “Scarlet Street” in 1945. He later returned to the exposure of violence and corruption in “Big Heat” in 1953.

Although he was not honored by the American film establishment until a retrospective of his work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1969, France, Germany, Austria, and Yugoslavia gave him many awards for his contribution to film from the 1950s through the 1970s. He also received an award for his film “M” from the German Motion Picture Arts Association in 1931.

From the guide to the Fritz Lang papers, circa 1909-1973, 1931-1973, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)