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{{for|the German painter|Fritz Lang (artist)}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Fritz Lang
| image              = Fritz Lang (1969).jpg
| caption            = Lang in 1969
| birth_name         = Friedrich Christian Anton Lang
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1890|12|05|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = Vienna, [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1976|08|02|1890|12|05|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]]
| citizenship        = {{flatlist|
* Austria
* Germany (later renounced)
* United States<ref>{{cite web |last=Kürten |first=Jochen |url=http://www.dw.com/en/born-125-years-ago-celebrating-the-films-of-fritz-lang/a-18890889 |title=Born 125 years ago: Celebrating the films of Fritz Lang |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=December 4, 2015 |access-date=November 18, 2017}}</ref>
}}
| alma_mater         = [[Technical University of Vienna]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Film director|producer|screenwriter|actor}}
| years_active       = 1910–1976
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Lisa Rosenthal|1919|1920|end=her death}}
* {{marriage|[[Thea von Harbou]]|1922|1933|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|{{ill|Lily Latté|fr}}|1971}}
}}
}}

'''Friedrich Christian Anton Lang''' ({{IPA|de-AT|ˈfriːdrɪç ˈkrɪsti̯a(ː)n ˈantɔn ˈlaŋ|lang}}; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as '''Fritz Lang''' ({{IPA|de-AT|ˈfrɪts ˈlaŋ|lang}}), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.<ref name="WVobit">Obituary ''[[Variety Obituaries|Variety]]'', August 4, 1976, p. 63.</ref> One of the best-known ''émigrés'' from Germany's school of [[German expressionist cinema|Expressionism]], he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the [[British Film Institute]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/lang/ |title=Fritz Lang: Master of Darkness |access-date=January 22, 2009 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218174248/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/lang/ |archive-date=December 18, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/fritz-lang-10-essential-films|title= Fritz Lang: 10 essential films|date= December 4, 2015|access-date= July 1, 2022|archive-date= July 1, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220701225101/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/fritz-lang-10-essential-films|url-status= live}}</ref>

Lang's work spans five decades, from the Expressionist silent films of his first German creative period to his short stay in Paris and his work as a Hollywood director to his last three films made in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fritz Lang & German Expressionism |url=https://bampfa.org/program/fritz-lang-german-expressionism |website=Bampfa.org |date=October 25, 2018 |access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122120450/https://bampfa.org/program/fritz-lang-german-expressionism |url-status=live }}</ref> Lang's most celebrated films include the futuristic science-fiction film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927) and the influential ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' (1931), a [[film noir]] precursor. His 1929 film ''[[Woman in the Moon]]'' showcased the use of a [[multi-stage rocket]], and also pioneered the concept of a [[rocket]] [[launch pad]] (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch [[countdown]] clock.<ref name="Lang profile">[https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/299ce04f-6462-482a-8973-02d22bacc3d3/the-directors/episodes/season-1/episode-6 "The Directors (Fritz Lang)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725181202/https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/299ce04f-6462-482a-8973-02d22bacc3d3/the-directors/episodes/season-1/episode-6 |date=July 25, 2022 }}. [[Sky Arts]]. Season 1, episode 6. 2018</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Weide | first = Robert | date = Summer 2012 | title = The Outer Limits | journal = DGA Quarterly | location = Los Angeles, California | pages = 64–71 | publisher = Directors Guild of America, Inc. | url = http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1203-Summer-2012/Photo-Essay-Outer-Limits.aspx | archive-date = January 28, 2019 | access-date = July 25, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190128030427/http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1203-Summer-2012/Photo-Essay-Outer-Limits.aspx | url-status = dead }} A gallery of behind-the-scenes shots of movies featuring space travel or aliens. Page 68, photo caption: "Directed by Fritz Lang (third from right), the silent film "Woman in the Moon" (1929) is considered one of the first serious science fiction films and invented the countdown before the launch of a rocket. Many of the basics of space travel were presented to a mass audience for the first time."</ref>

His other major films include ''[[Dr. Mabuse the Gambler]]'' (1922), ''[[Die Nibelungen]]'' (1924), and after moving to Hollywood in 1934, ''[[Fury (1936 film)|Fury]]'' (1936), ''[[You Only Live Once (1937 film)|You Only Live Once]]''  (1937), ''[[Hangmen Also Die!]]'' (1943), ''[[The Woman in the Window (1944 film)|The Woman in the Window]]'' (1944), ''[[Scarlet Street]]'' (1945) and ''[[The Big Heat]]'' (1953). He became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1939.

==Early life==
Lang was born in Vienna, as the second son of Anton Lang (1860–1940),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.architektenlexikon.at/de/345.htm |title=Architekturzentrum Wien |publisher=Architektenlexikon.at |access-date=March 6, 2010 |archive-date=October 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017205057/http://www.architektenlexikon.at/de/345.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> an architect and construction company manager, and his wife Pauline "Paula" Lang ({{née}} Schlesinger; 1864–1920). There is no documented evidence of the true identity of Anton Lang's biological father; he was born as an illegitimate child of a maid from Moravia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fritz Lang |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcgilligan-lang.html?scp=7&sq=hans%20lang&st=cse |website=New York Times |quote=In latter-day books and articles about his world-famous son, Anton Lang is usually described as an architect. In fact, Baumeister, a German word often confused and translated as "architect" in English and French, means more precisely that Lang's father was a builder or executor of architectural plans. He had the additional honorific, in city archives, of Stadtbaumeister, which simply meant that he was licensed to appear as a project manager before Vienna municipal boards. |access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-date=December 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241217211316/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcgilligan-lang.html?scp=7&sq=hans%20lang&st=cse |url-status=live }}</ref> Anton Lang was described as a "lapsed Catholic," and was a builder and partner in Honus and Lang, an important construction company<ref>{{Cite web |last=David |first=Eric |title=The Master of Darkness |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/augustweb-only/fof_lang.html |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=ChristianityToday.com |date=August 25, 2009 |language=en |archive-date=January 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106043031/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/augustweb-only/fof_lang.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fritz Lang |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcgilligan-lang.html?scp=7&sq=hans%20lang&st=cse |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> Pauline Lang was born [[Jewish]] and converted to Catholicism. Fritz Lang was baptized on December 28, 1890, at the [[Schottenstift, Vienna|Schottenkirche]] in Vienna.<ref>Vienna, Schottenpfarre, baptismal register Tom. 1890, fol. 83.</ref> He had an elder brother, Adolf (1884–1961).<ref name="McGilligan/Lang/ONE">{{cite book |last1=McGilligan |first1=Patrick |author1-link=Patrick McGilligan (biographer) |title=Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast |date=1997 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |isbn=0-312-13247-6 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcgilligan-lang.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420030007/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mcgilligan-lang.html |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |chapter=CHAPTER ONE |via= archive.[[nytimes.com]]}}</ref>

Lang's father was of [[Moravia]]n descent.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ott |first1=Frederick W. |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5110883W/The_films_of_Fritz_Lang |title=The films of Fritz Lang |date=1979 |publisher=Citadel Press |isbn=0-8065-0435-8 |edition=1st |location=Secaucus, NJ |page=10 |access-date=19 January 2018 |archive-date=January 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119235050/https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5110883W/The_films_of_Fritz_Lang |url-status=live }}</ref> At one point, he noted that he was "born [a] [[Catholic]] and very puritan".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lang |first=Fritz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxX-epJIzo0C&pg=PA163 |title=Fritz Lang: Interviews |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-57806-577-6 |page=163|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi }}</ref> Ultimately describing himself as an [[atheist]], Lang believed that religion was important for teaching ethics.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |author=Tom Gunning |title=The films of Fritz Lang: allegories of vision and modernity |publisher=British Film Institute |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-85170-742-6 |page=7 |quote=Lang, however, immediately cautions Prokosh, 'Jerry, don't forget, the gods have not created men, man has created the gods.' This is more than a simple statement of Feuerbach-like humanism or atheism.}}</ref><ref name="McGilligan_p477">{{cite book |last1=McGilligan |first1=Patrick |author1-link=Patrick McGilligan (biographer) |title=Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0312194543 |page=477}}<!--|access-date=April 8, 2013--></ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |last1=Kermode|first1=Mark |author1-link=Mark Kermode |title=Hatchet Job: Love Movies, Hate Critics |date=2013 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4472-3052-6 |pages=25–26 |quote=The Austrian-born film-maker Fritz Lang once commented that, although he was an atheist, he supported religious education because 'if you do not teach religion, how can you teach ethics?'}}</ref>

After finishing school, Lang briefly attended the [[Technical University of Vienna]], where he studied civil engineering and eventually switched to art. He left Vienna in 1910 to travel throughout Europe and Africa, later Asia and the [[Pacific]] area. In 1913, he studied painting in Paris. He was arrested by the French authorities as an "enemy alien," but escaped to Vienna, where he was drafted into the Imperial Austrian Army.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-01 |title=A man for all seasons: Fritz Lang interviewed in 1967 |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/man-all-seasons-fritz-lang-interviewed-1967 |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=BFI |language=en |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122121952/https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/man-all-seasons-fritz-lang-interviewed-1967 |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the outbreak of [[World War I]], Lang lived in the house of his parents in Gars am Kamp (both his parents are buried in Gars) in Lower Austria, where he used to paint. After this he returned to Vienna and volunteered for military service in the [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]] [[Austro-Hungarian Army|Army]], fighting in Russia and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]. Lang was wounded four times and lost sight in his right eye,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Lang |title="Fritz Lang" |last=Barson |first=Michael |date=29 July 2020 |website=britannica.com |access-date=11 August 2020 |archive-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818141240/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Lang |url-status=live }}</ref> when he then saw a Max Reinhardt show for injured soldiers and played in a Red Cross revue. For a short period of time he was also located in [[Ljutomer]] where he stayed with [[Karol Grossmann]] where he initially got interested in movies.<ref>Smiljanić, Z., 2025. Fritz Lang: Ljutomer - Berlin - Hollywood. 1. izd. izd. Ljutomer; Ljubljana: Kulturno turistično društvo Festival; Založba ZRC.str.144. ISBN 978-961-05-0895-3</ref> During his convalescence he began writing plays and simple scenarios with Austrian film director [[Joe May]] devising a two-reel film from a Lang scenario. At the end of the war, Lang began to mingle with the demobilized Berlin artists <ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-01 |title=A man for all seasons: Fritz Lang interviewed in 1967 |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/man-all-seasons-fritz-lang-interviewed-1967 |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=BFI |language=en |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122121952/https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/man-all-seasons-fritz-lang-interviewed-1967 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was discharged from the army with the rank of lieutenant in 1918. Lang briefly acted in the Viennese theater circuit before being hired as a writer at [[Decla Film]], [[Erich Pommer]]'s Berlin-based production company.

On 13 February 1919, in the Marriage Registry Office in [[Charlottenburg]],<!-- [[:de:Fritz Lang]] --> Berlin, Lang married a theater actress named Elisabeth Rosenthal<!-- [[:fr:Fritz Lang]] -->. Rosenthal died of a single gunshot wound in their bathtub on September 25, 1920, the shot<ref name="slant/mcgilligan-lang">{{cite news |last1=Dillard |first1=Clayton |title=Review: Patrick McGilligan's Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-patrick-mcgilligans-fritz-lang-the-nature-of-the-beast/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=Slant Magazine |date=7 November 2013 |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727205747/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-patrick-mcgilligans-fritz-lang-the-nature-of-the-beast/ |url-status=live }}</ref> deemed to have been fired from Lang's World War I [[Browning Arms Company|Browning]] [[revolver]].<ref name="guardian/2001/feb/10/book.review">{{cite news |last1=Connolly |first1=Kate |title=Murder and Metropolis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/feb/10/books.guardianreview |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=10 February 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/feb/10/books.guardianreview|title = Murder and Metropolis|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = February 10, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.williamahearn.com/lisa.html|title = Lisa |website = williamahearn.com}}</ref><ref name="Brook-Noir">{{cite book |last1=Brook |first1=Vincent |title=Driven to Darkness: Jewish Emigre Directors and the Rise of Film Noir |date=18 September 2009 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4833-3 |url= |language=en |chapter=4. The Father of Film Noir: Fritz Lang |pages=58–78 |doi=10.36019/9780813548333-005 }}</ref> Lang and his future wife Harbou claimed that Rosenthal had shot herself, and Lang and Harbou were charged with failure to render aid. The charge was soon dropped.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lisa |url=http://www.williamahearn.com/lisa.html |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=www.williamahearn.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
===Expressionist films: the Weimar years (1918–1933)===
Lang started work as a director at the German film studio [[Universum Film AG|UFA]], and later [[Nero-Film]], just as the [[German expressionist cinema|Expressionist]] movement was building. In this first phase of his career, Lang alternated between films such as ''[[Der Müde Tod]]'' ("The Weary Death") and popular thrillers such as ''[[Die Spinnen]]'' ("The Spiders"), combining popular genres with Expressionist techniques to create a synthesis of popular entertainment with [[Art film|art cinema]].

[[File:Fritz Lang und Thea von Harbou, 1923 od. 1924.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Lang and [[Thea von Harbou]] in their Berlin flat, 1923 or 1924]]

In 1920, Lang met his future second wife, the writer [[Thea von Harbou]] through director Joe May. Harbou co-wrote and directed the film ''Das wandernde Bild'' with Lang.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Enigma of Thea von Harou |url=http://www.williamahearn.com/thea.html |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=www.williamahearn.com |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122120451/http://www.williamahearn.com/thea.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She co-wrote every Harbou-Lang film till 1933, including ''[[Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler]]'' ("Dr. Mabuse the Gambler," 1922 – which ran for over four hours, in two parts in the original version, and was the first in the [[Dr. Mabuse]] trilogy), the five-hour ''[[Die Nibelungen: Siegfried|Die Nibelungen]]'' (1924), the dystopian film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'' (1927), and the science fiction film ''[[Woman in the Moon]]'' (1929). ''Metropolis'' went over budget, to the UFA's detriment. It was a financial flop, as were his last silent films ''[[Spione|Spies]]'' (1928) and ''Woman in the Moon'', produced by Lang's own company.

In 1931, independent producer [[Seymour Nebenzahl]] hired Lang to direct ''[[M (1931 film)|M]]'' for Nero-Film. His first [[Talkie|"talking" picture]], considered by many film scholars to be a masterpiece of the early sound era, ''M'' is a story of a child murderer ([[Peter Lorre]] in his first starring role) who is hunted down and brought to justice by Berlin's criminal underworld.

Lang was hard to work with. During the climactic final scene in ''M'', Lang allegedly threw Peter Lorre down a flight of stairs in order to give more authenticity to Lorre's battered look.

In the films of his German period, Lang produced an oeuvre that established the characteristics later attributed to [[film noir]], with its recurring themes of psychological conflict, paranoia, fate and moral ambiguity.

Lang started having an affair with the Austrian actress [[Gerda Maurus]] during the filming of ''[[Spione]]'' (1928).

At the end of 1932, Lang started filming ''[[The Testament of Dr. Mabuse]]''. As [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in January 1933, the new regime banned the film on March 30 as an incitement to public disorder. ''Testament'' is occasionally deemed an anti-Nazi film, as Lang had put Nazi phrases into the mouth of the title character. A screening of the film was cancelled by [[Joseph Goebbels]], and it was later banned by the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kracauer |first1=Siegfried |url=https://archive.org/details/fromcaligaritohi0000krac |title=From Caligari to Hitler: a psychological history of the German film |year=1947 |isbn=0-691-02505-3 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In banning the film, Goebbels stated that the film "showed that an extremely dedicated group of people are perfectly capable of overthrowing any state with violence", and that the film posed a threat to public health and safety.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kalat |first1=David |title=The strange case of Dr. Mabuse: a study of the twelve films and five novels |date=2005 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-2337-4}}</ref>

Throughout his marriage with Harbou, Lang was known for being a philanderer. Two of his lovers of these years included [[Gerda Maurus]], the leading actress in Lang's last silent films ''[[Spione]]'' (1928) and ''[[Woman in the Moon]]'' (1929), and Lily Latte in 1931.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=David |date=1997-07-13 |title=Bully Boy |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-13-bk-12127-story.html |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122120451/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-13-bk-12127-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 1930s, Harbou started an affair with [[Ayi Tendulkar]], an Indian journalist and student 17 years her junior.{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=168}}

===Emigration===
According to Lang, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called Lang to his offices to inform him that ''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse'' was being banned but, nevertheless, he was so impressed by Lang's abilities as a filmmaker (especially ''Metropolis''), that he offered Lang the position of head of German film studio UFA. Lang said it was during that meeting he had decided to leave for Paris – but that the banks had closed by the time the meeting was over. Lang claimed that, after selling his wife's jewelry, he fled by train to Paris that evening, leaving most of his money and personal possessions behind.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fritz Lang Biography |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000485/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm |website=IMDb |access-date=2019-09-05 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019121910/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000485/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Michel Ciment: ''Fritz Lang, Le meurtre et la loi'', Ed. Gallimard, Collection [[Découvertes Gallimard]] (vol. 442), 04/11/2003. The author thinks that this meeting, in fact, never happened.</ref><ref>[[Allan Havis|Havis, Allan]] (2008), ''Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression'', University Press of America, Inc., p. 10</ref><ref>Thomson, David (2012) ''The Big Screen: the story of the movies'' New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux {{ISBN|978-0-374-19189-4}} pp. 64–65; Lang's version deemed suspect</ref> Despite this, Lang's passport of the time showed that he traveled to and from Germany throughout 1933.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fritz Lang Tells the Riveting Story of the Day He Met Joseph Goebbels and Then High-Tailed It Out of Germany |url=http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/fritz-lang-tells-the-riveting-story-of-the-day-he-met-joseph-goebbels.html |website=Open Culture |access-date=29 March 2018 |date=28 April 2015 |archive-date=March 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330013336/http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/fritz-lang-tells-the-riveting-story-of-the-day-he-met-joseph-goebbels.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lang left Berlin permanently on July 31, 1933, four months after his meeting with Goebbels and his initial departure. He moved to Paris,<ref name="KalatDVD">David Kalat, ''[https://www.criterion.com/films/721 DVD Commentary for The Testament of Dr. Mabuse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703151321/https://www.criterion.com/films/721 |date=July 3, 2017 }}''. New York City, United States: The Criterion Collection (2004)</ref> having divorced [[Thea von Harbou]], who stayed behind, earlier in 1933.<ref name="howard hughes">{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Howard |url=https://archive.org/details/outerlimitsfilmg0000hugh |title=Outer Limits: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Science-fiction Films |date=2014 |publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]] |isbn=978-1-78076-165-7 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/outerlimitsfilmg0000hugh/page/1 1] |access-date=22 January 2015 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{sfn|McGilligan|1997|p=181}}

In Paris, Lang filmed his only French film, a version of [[Ferenc Molnár]]'s ''[[Liliom (1934 film)|Liliom]]'', starring [[Charles Boyer]]. He then moved to the United States.<ref name="KalatDVD"/>

=== Hollywood career (1936–1957) ===
Lang made twenty-two features in his 20-year American career, working in a variety of genres at every major studio in [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]], and occasionally producing his films as an independent. He became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States in 1939.<ref name="NYT20090515">{{cite news|last=Kehr|first=Dave|url=|title=Fritz Lang, Trailing Nazis|work=The New York Times|date=15 May 2009}}</ref>

Signing first with [[MGM]] Studios, Lang's crime drama ''[[Fury (1936 film)|Fury]]'' (1936) saw [[Spencer Tracy]] cast as a man who is wrongly accused of a crime and nearly killed when a lynch mob sets fire to the jail where he is awaiting trial. However, in ''Fury'', he was not allowed to represent black victims in a lynching scenario or to criticize racism, which was his original intention.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELNZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=Women Activists and Civil Rights Leaders in Auto/Biographical Literature and Films |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-319-77081-9 |editor-last1=Letort |editor-first1=Delphine |location=Cham, Switzerland |page=98 |access-date=September 7, 2018 |editor-last2=Lebdai |editor-first2=Benaouda}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Ellen C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27fQBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1736 |title=Cinema Civil Rights: Regulation, Repression, and Race in the Classical Hollywood Era |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8135-7137-9 |page=1736 |access-date=September 7, 2018}}</ref> By the time ''Fury'' was released, Lang had been involved in the creation of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, working with [[Otto Katz]], a Czech Jew who was a [[Comintern]] spy.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hoberman|first=J.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/movies/homevideo/fritz-langs-hangmen-must-die-and-man-hunt-on-blu-ray.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/movies/homevideo/fritz-langs-hangmen-must-die-and-man-hunt-on-blu-ray.html |archive-date=2022-01-02 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Fighting the Nazis With Celluloid|work=The New York Times|date=October 9, 2014|access-date=March 26, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He made four films with explicitly anti-Nazi themes, ''[[Man Hunt (1941 film)|Man Hunt]]'' (1941), ''[[Hangmen Also Die!]]'' (1943), ''[[Ministry of Fear]]'' (1944) and ''[[Cloak and Dagger (1946 film)|Cloak and Dagger]]'' (1946). ''Man Hunt'', wrote [[Dave Kehr]] in 2009, "may be the best" of the "many interventionist films produced by the Hollywood studios before Pearl Harbor" as it is "clean and concentrated, elegant and precise, pointed without being preachy."<ref name="NYT20090515" />

[[File:Fritz Lang and Gloria Grahame on set of Human Desire.jpg|270px|thumb|left|Lang with [[Gloria Grahame]] and [[Broderick Crawford]] on the set of ''[[Human Desire]]'']]
His American films were often compared unfavorably to his earlier works by contemporary critics, although the restrained Expressionism of these films is now seen as integral to the emergence and evolution of American genre cinema. ''[[Scarlet Street]]'' (1945), one of his films featuring [[Edward G. Robinson]] and [[Joan Bennett]], is considered a central film in the film noir genre.

One of Lang's most praised ''films noir'' is the police drama ''[[The Big Heat]]'' (1953), known for its brutality. As Lang's visual style simplified, in part due to the constraints of the Hollywood studio system, his worldview became increasingly pessimistic, culminating in the cold, geometric style of his last American films, ''[[While the City Sleeps (1956 film)|While the City Sleeps]]'' (1956) and ''[[Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956 film)|Beyond a Reasonable Doubt]]'' (1956).

===Last films (1959–1963)===
Lang, as his health worsened with age, found it difficult to find congenial production conditions and backers in Hollywood and contemplated retirement. The German producer [[Artur Brauner]] had expressed interest in remaking ''[[The Indian Tomb (1921 film)|The Indian Tomb]]'' (from an original story by Thea von Harbou, that Lang had developed in the 1920s which had ultimately been directed by [[Joe May]]),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Plass |first=Ulrich |title=Dialectic of Regression: Theodor W Adorno and Fritz Lang |journal=[[Telos (journal)|Telos]] |volume=149 |page=131 |date=Winter 2009}}</ref> so Lang returned to West Germany<ref name="gold195912">{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1959-12/Galaxy_1959_12#page/n5/mode/2up |title=Of All Things |work=Galaxy |date=December 1959 |access-date=15 June 2014 |author=Gold, H.L. |page=6}}</ref> to make his "Indian Epic" (consisting of ''[[The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959 film)|The Tiger of Eschnapur]]'' and ''[[The Indian Tomb (1959 film)|The Indian Tomb]]'').

Following the production, Brauner was preparing for a remake of ''[[The Testament of Dr. Mabuse]]'' when Lang approached him with the idea of adding a new original film to the series. The result was ''[[The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse]]'' (1960), whose success led to a series of new Mabuse films produced by Brauner (including the remake of ''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse''), though Lang did not direct any of the sequels. Lang was approaching blindness during the production,<ref>[[Robert Bloch]]. "In Memoriam: Fritz Lang" in Bloch's ''Out of My Head''. Cambridge, MA: NESFA Press, 1986, 171–80</ref> and it was his final project as director.

In 1963, he appeared as himself in [[Jean-Luc Godard]]'s film ''[[Contempt (film)|Contempt]]''.

==Death and legacy==
On February 8, 1960, Lang received a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] for his contributions to the motion picture industry, located at 1600 [[Vine Street]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/fritz-lang |title=Fritz Lang {{!}} Hollywood Walk of Fame |website=walkoffame.com |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202032558/https://walkoffame.com/fritz-lang/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/fritz-lang/ |title=Fritz Lang – Hollywood Star Walk – Los Angeles Times |website=projects.latimes.com |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=October 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012070051/http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/fritz-lang/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Fritz Lang Grave.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|Grave of Lang, at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills]]
Lang died from a [[stroke]] on August 2, 1976, and was interred in the [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery]] in the [[Hollywood Hills]] of [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.german-way.com/notable-people/featured-bios/fritz-lang/ |title=Fritz Lang |access-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-date=August 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802090537/https://www.german-way.com/notable-people/featured-bios/fritz-lang/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/03/archives/fritz-lang-film-director-noted-for-m-dead-at-85.html |title=Fritz Lang, Film Director Noted for 'M,' Dead at 85 |last=Krebs |first=Albin |date=August 3, 1976 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=January 22, 2009 |archive-date=December 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226023224/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0617FF3F5A167493C1A91783D85F428785F9 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lang's American and later German works were championed by the critics of the ''[[Cahiers du cinéma]]'', such as [[François Truffaut]] and [[Jacques Rivette]]. Truffaut wrote that Lang, especially in his American career, was greatly underappreciated by "cinema historians and critics" who "deny him any genius when he 'signs' spy movies ... war movies ... or simple thrillers."<ref>Dixon, Wheeler Winston (1993). ''Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut''. [[Indiana University Press]]. pp. 41–42. {{ISBN|0-253-11343-1}}.</ref>

Lang is credited with launching or developing many different genres of film. [[Philip French]] of ''[[The Observer]]'' believed that Lang helped craft the "entertainment war flick" and that his interpretation of the story of Bonnie and Clyde "helped launch the Hollywood film noir".<ref>{{cite news |last=French|first=Philip|date=2000-01-02 |title='Without Fritz, there'd be no Star Wars' |work=[[The Observer]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/jan/02/3 |access-date=2020-07-07 |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> Geoff Andrew of the [[British Film Institute]] believed he set the "blueprint for the serial killer movie" through ''M''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fritz Lang's M: the blueprint for the serial killer movie |date=September 5, 2014 |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/fritz-langs-m-blueprint-serial-killer-movie |access-date=2020-07-07 |publisher=British Film Institute |archive-date=August 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827220802/https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/fritz-langs-m-blueprint-serial-killer-movie |url-status=live }}</ref>

In December 2021, Lang was the subject for BBC Radio 4's ''[[In Our Time (radio series)|In Our Time]]''.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012s94| title = BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time, Fritz Lang| access-date = December 30, 2021| archive-date = December 30, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211230105426/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012s94| url-status = live}}</ref>

===Preservation===
The [[Academy Film Archive]] has preserved a number of Lang's films, including ''[[Human Desire]]'' and ''[[Man Hunt (1941 film)|Man Hunt]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Preserved Projects |url=http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=fritz+lang&category=All&collection=All |website=Academy Film Archive |access-date=July 27, 2016 |archive-date=August 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813035921/http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=fritz+lang&category=All&collection=All |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{main|Fritz Lang filmography}}

==Awards==
* Silver Hand in 1931, for his film ''M'', by the German Motion Picture Arts Association<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah07955.xml|title=Fritz Lang papers circa 1909–1973 1931–1973|access-date=April 2, 2020|archive-date=July 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720184321/https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah07955.xml|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Commander Cross, Order of Merit in 1957 and 1966
* Golden Ribbon of Motion Picture Arts in 1963 by the Federal Republic of Germany
* Order of Arts and Letters from France in 1965
* Plaque from El Festival Internacional del Cine de San Sebastian in 1970
* Order of the Yugoslavia Flag with a Golden Wreath in 1971
* Honorary Professor of Fine Arts by the University of Vienna, Austria, in 1973

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Eisenschitz |first1=Bernard |author1-link=Bernard Eisenschitz |title=Fritz Lang au travail |date=2011 |publisher=Éditions Cahiers du cinéma |isbn=978-2-86642-808-2}}<!-- review: https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/images/2012-n157-images0136/66895ac/   -->
* Friedrich, Otto (1986). ''City of Nets'': ''A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s''; New York: [[Harper & Row]]; {{ISBN|0-06-015626-0}}. (See e.g. pp.&nbsp;45–46 for anecdotes revealing Lang's arrogance.)
* {{cite book|last=Kardozi|first=Karzan |author1-link=Karzan Kardozi |title=100 Years of Cinema, 100 Directors, Vol 4: Fritz Lang |year=2020|publisher=Xazalnus Publication|url-access=registration|via=The Moving Silent | url=https://themovingsilent.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/book-100-years-of-cinema-from-d-w-griffith-to-richard-linklater/}}
* {{Interlanguage link|Agnès Michaux|fr|3=Agnès Michaux|lt=Michaux, Agnès}} (1997). "Je les chasserai jusqu'au bout du monde jusqu'à ce qu'ils en crèvent," Paris: Éditions n°1; {{ISBN|2-86391-933-4}}.
* [[Patrick McGilligan (biographer)|McGilligan, Patrick]] (1997). ''Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast''; New York: [[St. Martin's Press]]; {{ISBN|0-312-13247-6}}.
* [[Cornelius Schnauber|Schnauber, Cornelius]] (1986). ''Fritz Lang in Hollywood''; Wien: Europaverlag; {{ISBN|3-203-50953-9}} (in German).
* Shaw, Dan. [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/lang/ Great Directors: Fritz Lang.] ''[[Senses of Cinema]]'' issue 22, October 2002.
* {{cite book |last=Youngkin |first=Stephen |title=The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre |year=2005 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-2360-7}} – contains interviews with Lang and a discussion of the making of the film ''M''.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}


'''Works'''
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Fritz Lang |sopt=t}}

'''Papers'''
* [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv395455 Fritz Lang papers] at the <!-- [http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/ American Heritage Center] --> [[American Heritage Center]]

'''Metadata'''
* [https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/56225 Fritz Lang] at the [[American Film Institute Catalog]] <!-- ((AFI person | id= 56225  | title= Fritz Lang  ))  https://catalog.afi.com/Person/56225  CORRECT >>> https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/56225  -->  
* [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/fritz-lang-an13517 Fritz Lang] at [[AllMovie]]  <!-- {{AllMovie name | id= fritz-lang-an13517 | name= Fritz Lang }}  https://www.allmovie.com/artist/fritz-lang-an13517 -->
* {{TCMDb name | id= 108290%7C56225 | name= Fritz Lang }} <!-- https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/108290%7C56225/Fritz-Lang -->
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160529052257/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/lang.html Fritz Lang Bibliography] (via [[UC Berkeley]] Media Resources Center)
* {{IMDb name|485}}
* [<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20070922014801/http://www.filmportal.de/df/77/Uebersicht,,,,,,,,EFC121B064DE6C3FE03053D50B3736F2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html -->https://web.archive.org/web/20231202154033/https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/fritz-lang_efc121b064de6c3fe03053d50b3736f2 Fritz Lang] at [[filmportal.de]]

'''Texts'''
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fritz-Lang Fritz Lang] at [[Britannica]]
* [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/lang/ Fritz Lang] – Biography at [[Senses of Cinema]]
* [https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/interview-with-fritz-lang-beverley-hills-august-12-1972 "Interview with Fritz Lang"], Beverley Hills, August 12, 1972, at [[Mubi.com]]
* {{cite web |last1=Scott |first1=Ned |author1-link=Ned Scott |title=Photos of Fritz Lang and cast of 'Hangmen Also Die' |url=http://thenedscottarchive.com/hollywood/films/hangmen-also-die.html |website=the Ned Scott archive .com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814024022/https://www.thenedscottarchive.com/hollywood/films/hangmen-also-die.html |archive-date=August 14, 2022}}

{{Fritz Lang|state=collapsed}}
{{Metropolis}}
{{Cannes Film Festival jury presidents}}{{Expressionism}}{{The Life Career Award}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Fritz}}
[[Category:Fritz Lang| ]]
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:American atheists]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Moravian-German descent]]
[[Category:Austrian atheists]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to Germany]]
[[Category:Austrian film directors]]
[[Category:Austrian people of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Austrian people of Moravian-German descent]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian Army officers]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)]]
[[Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Austrian expatriates in Germany]]
[[Category:Eyepatch wearers]]
[[Category:Film directors from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Film people from Vienna]]
[[Category:American horror film directors]]
[[Category:Austrian horror film directors]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States]]
[[Category:People blind in one eye]]
[[Category:People from Margareten]]
[[Category:American science fiction film directors]]
[[Category:Austrian science fiction film directors]]
[[Category:Silent film screenwriters]]
[[Category:TU Wien alumni]]
[[Category:Western (genre) film directors]]
[[Category:Jewish American film people]]
[[Category:American silent film directors]]
[[Category:Austrian silent film directors]]
[[Category:Jewish Austrian film people]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Fritz Lang|access_date=2026-03-03}}