Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
#2 in my ranking of Fritz Lang's filmography. It's always interesting to revisit a film I've seen a long time ago, where I had written specific thoughts on it, while seeing it outside of the context of the director's body of work only to return to it within that very context years later. You really… Continue reading Some extra thoughts on The Big Heat
#6 in my ranking of Fritz Lang's filmography. Another film marked as the beginning of the film noir genre, it actually feels more like a straight drama for most of the film. That really gives the film a solid character-based foundation on which its final act operates, creating a very well-fleshed out central protagonist who… Continue reading Scarlet Street
#5 in my ranking of Fritz Lang's filmography. This is the Hollywood extension of M and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge, a story of mob mentality and someone wronged exacting terrible vengeance upon those that committed the wrong. It's Fritz Lang coming to America after his brief stint in France and applying his harder edged streak… Continue reading Fury (1936)
#1 in my ranking of Fritz Lang's filmography. I don't think Fritz Lang or Thea von Harbou had demonstrated the artistic depth and talent to make M before 1931. I've really enjoyed many of Lang's films from the 20s, but the closest he came to something even approximately like M was the second part of… Continue reading M
#3 in my ranking of Fritz Lang's filmography. The first half of this story was a grand fantasy adventure that ended sadly. The second half is...an amazingly great, morally complex, and incredibly involving tragedy. I mean...I loved the first part of this large epic film, but this second part is something else. It’s not the… Continue reading Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild’s Revenge
David Vining, Author 