PDA

View Full Version : Fritz Lang on Kino - 2 out of 3 ain't bad


Tim Casey
01-03-2005, 05:46 AM
I just got through "Spies" (1928), "Woman On The Moon" (1929) and "Lilliom" (1934), all from Kino. Spectacular stuff (except for "Lillliom"). "Spies" has never looked this good and is now extremely watchable - lousy prints make this slow moving film absolutely crawl. This was my first time seeing "Woman On The Moon", and it's really a great film. Now I have excellent DVDs of all of Lang's major works from Germany. Life is good!

"Lilliom" is from video, possibly French, and possibly from the sixties. The quality is okay, but the film itself turns into a huge letdown at the end. Lang apparently didn't know how to resolve the story of a guy who hits women. Due to his own unfortunate history, he tries to make us think that it's okay to beat your wife as long as you love her. He also knows that this point of view is SO wrong that he half-heartedly tries to end the movie and get you out of the theater before you can object. :thumbsdn: :thumbsdn: Two thumbs down on this one....

ZIPGUN99
01-03-2005, 02:32 PM
I thought the moral of "Lilliom" was if you can get woman to love you unconditionally, you'll go to heaven no matter how much a rat bastard you are.
I agree that "he hit me and it felt like a kiss"(the Crystals) stuff is creepy.
I wonder if it was faithful to the play(some of the sets sure looked like left-over scenery). Sure liked the trip to heaven, tho! I saw the Rogers and Hammerstein movie version "Carousel" many years ago, but I don't remember much about it.

I saw "Spies" just a week ago, it was much better and complete than the Video Yesteryear version I saw in the 80's, but I still had trouble following the story. I must have missed something, I'm not sure how the guy running a big bank was secretly a circus clown.

Looking forward to seeing "Woman in the Moon"!