The Big Heat

 Year:   1953

Director:  Fritz Lang

Screenplay:  William P. McGivern, based on the novel The Big Heat by William P. McGivern

Starring:  Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin

Running Time:  90 minutes

Genre:  Thriller

While investigating the apparent suicide of a police officer, detective Sergeant Dave Bannion (Ford) finds himself pitted against a powerful crime syndicate that effectively owns the city including the police department.  When Bannion's wife is killed by a bomb that was intended for him, his pursuit for justice becomes a quest for vengeance.

This is a powerful slice of film noir from legendary director Fritz Lang, who began with such ground-breaking films as Metropolis (1926) and M (1931) before moving to America where he specialised in bleak crime dramas.  Beginning as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post by writer William P. McGivern, who subsequently published the story as a novel and wrote the screenplay for the film, the tale is tense and exciting, with often darkly witty, hard-boiled dialogue.  Beginning as a square jawed heroic tough guy, and devoted family man, Glenn Ford's Dave Bannion devolves into an obsessive antihero increasingly consumed by his desire for vengeance.  Gloria Grahame is impressive as the gangster's moll who becomes consumed with her own quest for vengeance as well as offering salvation of a kind for the tormented Bannion.  Jocelyn Brando, the older sister of Marlon Brando, doesn't really get to make much of an impression as the devoted wife before she gets blown up.  The film is surprisingly violent for the time, in particular the notorious scene where Lee Marvin throws boiling coffee in Gloria Grahame's face.

Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford in The Big Heat

Metropolis

 Year of Release:  1927

Director:  Fritz Lang

Screenplay:  Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang, based on the novel Metropolis by Thea von Harbou

Starring:  Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Running Time:  153 minutes (original cut)

Genre:  Science-fiction

In the futuristic city of Metropolis the elite live and play in towering skyscrapers, while the workers toil in underground cities operating the vast machines that keep Metropolis running.  One day, Freder (Fröhlich), the son of the city's ruler Joh Fredersen (Abel), glimpses the saintly Maria (Helm), a teacher from the underground city who is also a spiritual leader to the workers.  Tracking her down to the subterranean caverns, Freder is shocked by the horrible conditions in which the workers live and work.  He becomes inspired by Maria's teaching of a Mediator who will unite the people above ground with those below ground.  Meanwhile Joh Fredersen is concerned about Maria's influence among the workers, and enlists the aid of scientist Rotwang (Klein-Rogge) to construct an evil robot duplicate of Maria.

  This is one of the most iconic films ever made.  It's really the first epic science-fiction film, and it's images echo not only throughout the science-fiction genre, but throughout the whole of pop culture.  Even today, it's influence can be seen in movies, comics, music videos and TV shows.  It's full of memorable images and sequences, from the futuristic city, and the design of the robot.  There is also the hallucinatory imagery of the Moloch sequence, the Tower of Babel, and Death and the Seven Deadly Sins.  The performances are strong, with Brigitte Helm in the dual role of Maria and her evil mechanical duplicate, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge as mad scientist Rotwang.  There is also a strong performance by Fritz Rasp, as the sinister Thin Man, whose scenes are cut from many versions of the film, but are reinstated in the 2010 restoration). While elements have dated, sometimes humorously (biplanes floating among the city towers), it remains, even today, an overpowering visual experience.  The story may be simplistic, but the message of the disparity between rich and poor is as pertinent now as it was in 1927.  The film is available in many different versions of various lengths, including a 83 minute long colourised version released in 1984 with a rock score by Giorgio Moroder and songs by Freddy Mercury, Bonnie Tyler and Adam Ant among others.  The most complete version is probably the 2010 restored version which runs to 148 minutes.

Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Brigitte Helm in Metropolis

You Only Live Once

Year of Release:  1937

Director:  Fritz Lang

Screenplay:  Gene Towne and Charles Graham Baker

Starring:  Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane

Running Time:  86 minutes

Genre:  Crime, drama, romance

Eddie Taylor (Fonda) is a convicted bank robber who is released from prison and tries to go straight with his new wife, Joan (Sidney), secretary to the Public Defender who represented Eddie at his trial.  However hard he tries, Eddie comes to feel that he can't catch a break, and finds himself drawn back to his old life with violent and tragic consequences.

Director Fritz Lang had made his reputation in Germany with such classics as Metropolis (1926) and M (1931) before emigrating after the Nazis came to power and eventually ended up in America.  His first American film, Fury (1936), attracted praise from critics but was severely tampered with by the studio.  This film, loosely based on the exploits of legendary outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, is an early example of what would become known as "film noir", a bleak crime drama, with a doom-laden atmosphere, and desperate characters who, despite their best efforts, are destined for nothing but a bad end.   The film also has a still pertinent message about the difficulties of ex-prisoners to find a place in society even after serving their sentence.  The film features a powerful, haunted performance from Henry Fonda and a great performance from Sylvia Sidney as the one person who stands by Eddie, even after her world starts to crash down around her.  Lang was a consummate visual stylist who honed his craft during the German Expressionist movement, and the film features some startling images, notably a jailbreak sequence, shot with thick rolling smoke and stark, bright shafts of light, with minimal sets.  Despite concessions to the censors of the time (Lang was forced to cut fifteen minutes from the film before it could be released) this is still a shocking and troubling film.

Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda are on the run in You Only Live Once

Destiny

Year of Release:  1921
Director:  Fritz Lang
Screenplay:  Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
Starring:  Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen, Bernhard Goetzke, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Genre:  Fantasy, romance
Running Time:  99 minutes

In this silent German film, a young couple (Dagover and Janssen) on a journey encounter the personification of Death (Goetzke), who takes the life of the man.  Heartbroken, the woman finds her way into Death's realm to plead for the life of her beloved.  Touched by her plight, Death presents her with three tales of love and death:  One set in an ancient Middle Eastern city, the other in Renaissance-era Venice and the third in ancient China.  If the woman can change the tragic outcome of just one of the episodes, Death will release her lover. 

This is an early and unjustly neglected film from acclaimed director Fritz Lang.  The film's original German title translates as The Weary Death:  A German Folk Song in Six Verses, and it is like a folk story, with a dream-like, expressionist look and, for the time, innovative special effects.  The three love stories all have a distinctive flavour to them, they all have a unique look beyond the lavish costumes and production design.  Looked at today, the fact that the characters are all played by white people in heavy make-up is problematic, albeit standard for the time.  The story was inspired by Indian mythology.  The film depicts Death as a gaunt, pale man in a wide-brimmed hat, a strangely sympathetic character who is tired of his endless task, and being cursed and despised by the living (Lang claimed that his concept of Death came from a fever-dream he had as a child).  None of the other characters are as memorable are as well-imagined as Death.  Even today, the film is visually striking and endlessly imaginative, although not without it's problems.  There is humour in the movie, but it takes itself seriously and invites it's audience to take it seriously and some level to believe in it's dark magic. 

Bernhard Goetzke as Death in Destiny