The Spiders

MOVIE #1,380 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 02.16.24 FRITZ LANG: DIRECTOR FOCUS Today we begin yet another DIRECTOR FOCUS on the work of Austrian director Fritz Lang’s (M, Metropolis, etc.) extensive filmography. Welcome. There's a ton going on here, plot visually and in terms of the plot. We're juxtaposed between a western-style shootout and action on a hot air balloon, and whatever confusion you might have about the narrative (a dueling search for a lost Incan civilization that possesses an immense treasure by a San Franciscoan adventurer and the shady, titular organization “Die Spinnen”), it's immediately evident that this is a gem of the silent cinema era. My schooling on the subject is poor, but compared to Hitchcock, for example, this is simply more cinematic. The camera doesn't move much but the various sets and especially everything filmed in glorious outdoor settings are stunning.

Things do slow up considerably in the second part, “The Diamond Ship.” It becomes needlessly convoluted as well, especially following the first half which moved smoothly with pace. There's still a lot to like here but at 137 minutes, it’s a grind. Part one, at under an hour, is the far better piece of filmmaking and all you really need to watch.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
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The Spiders (German: Die Spinnen) is a silent two-part German adventure film written and directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in two parts in 1919 and 1920. Two more parts were originally planned but never made. It was believed to be a lost film, but it has been rediscovered and restored. It was released on October 3, 1919.