Woman In The Moon (1929)

16 November 2020

I like to replay this movie in the background for the music. You can also find this floating around on YouTube (note: I watch the one with english captions). The Guardian had an article several years ago calling out that this was the "first scientific science-fiction film."

Fritz Lang's expressionistic style appears subtly in his films - either with the piercing stares of the actors, the paneled stills to cover flashbacks/exposition (I wish this was done more in films today!), and conscious decisions of where sound is placed (something that directors migrating between silent to talking pictures all had in their work, but Lang's stood out as more of a signature).

Silent films don't usually get appreciated very much, but I enjoy this one. It's got the drama and suspense to make for a well paced movie, and the story and characters are expressive enough to be memorable after not watching it for years. "The man who calls himself Walter Turner", played by Fritz Rasp stands out as a particularly strange villain. This was Lang's last silent film, and would only do two more films - M (1931); The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) - before leaving Germany for good in 1933 following Hilter's rise to power. 8/10

10 February 2015

Tonight I watched "Woman In The Moon" (1929) by Fritz Lang on Amazon Instant Video. It was a silent science fiction film about traveling to the moon in search of gold. It was interesting to see the view of space travel in a time when it was only an idea. It was also nice to see a film from Fritz Lang that was less grim than usual: Metropolis, M, and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse kinda set the bar for my expectations, so it was nice seeing a somewhat lighter 3 hour film of his. Worth a watch, or a listen if you'd rather just have a soundtrack. 8/10