Customer Reviews

Woman In the Moon

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had heard of Fritz Lang's WOMAN IN THE MOON for many years and had seen stills from it in sci-fi film anthologies but I was never sure if I would ever get to see it. Now that I have seen it I was totally unprepared for how taken I would be with it. It is absolutely astonishing how forward looking this film was (is). From a technical standpoint it was the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY of its day. The latest technology of 1929 was used by Lang to depict a trip to the moon 40 years before it actually happened.

The attention to detail, always a Lang trademark, is on full display here. German scientists were consulted on the rocket and space sequences and chillingly give us a glimpse of the technology that would be employed by the Nazis during World War II. Even more chilling and prophetic is how the principal heavy is the spitting image of Hitler minus his mustache (and Hitler wanted Lang to be the Third Reich's filmmaker!). In addition to the technological aspects the human side of the story is also quite compelling. There's a love triangle, the crazy dreamer who isn't crazy, a global financial conspiracy and even an unwanted passenger aboard the rocket. Every technical science fiction film or series that follows (THINGS TO COME, 2001, even LOST IN SPACE to name but a few) owe a debt to WOMAN IN THE MOON. The performances are all first rate with Gerda Maurus in the title role and Fritz Rasp as the villain standing out but it's the story and the settings that really shine.

This new Kino version restores the film to it's almost 3 hour length and Jon C. Mirsalis' score is simple and extremely effective particularly in the rocket and lunar sequences. Once you see this movie you will be amazed at how many scenes you have seen elsewhere in other movies and TV shows. It's great to finally have the opportunity to see the source material at last... Historical Note: The idea of counting down to zero to launch a rocket comes from this film.

Well we finally get to see the full 161 minute version. Some of you may know that in 1930 the founders of the American Interplanetary society invited Swiss aviation pioneer Robert Esnault Pelterie to speak to their membership in NYC. As part of the event they decided to translate this Lang masterpiece into English. Unfortunately for the rest of us they gutted it down to about 80 minutes. Not only did they remove all the "non-space" stuff but they actually re-wrote the story by creating new title cards. Consequently the new version made little sense. Well finally here we have the uncut original with all title cards intact and a story line which actually makes sense. The print is almost perfect and the company in Europe are to be applauded for resurrecting this brilliant piece of work. German rocket pioneers Otto Willi Gail, Willy Ley and Hermann Oberth consulted on the space flight section and it shows. Visuals are a real treat and you can actually read much of the details such as science fiction pulp magazines etc. If you have ever wondered what the heck this movie was about, now is your chance to finally see it as it was made in 1929. A real treat.

Painstaking direction by Fritz Lang combines with sometimes ridiculous overwriting by wife Thea von Harbau to produce a mixed masterpiece. The movie can be described as 1) crime thriller segueing into 2) eerily prescient science fiction descending into 3) soapy melodrama. Lang's influence is most obvious in the middle section but the cumbersome plotline slows down the beginning and end.

We open with handsome Doctor Helius chewing scenery with an aged professor driven into poverty and near-insanity by the rejection of his theory that the moon's mountains are full of gold. The good Doctor still believes in him, as do the 5 potentates (!) who control the world's gold supply and wish to corral the moon's as well. This introduces an underworld spy played quite suavely by Fritz Rasp.

We also meet the eponymous Woman, Gerda Maurus, a lady with expressive eyes, no particular figure and a rather bad hair-do. She is a jolly sort, though, as well as a much stronger individual than the jelly-backboned dames who pollute the post-WWII genre, and serves well enough as the love interest for both the good Doctor and his (mostly) loyal engineer Hans.

This all gets sticky for about an hour until we finally meet the Rocketship. The roll-out of the Ship is a sequence of monumental power as the massive craft and supporting structure are slowly rolled out of the assembly building to the launch pad as the moon rises out of the searchlit gloom and crowds and photographers swarm beneath the juggernaut to the accompaniment of radio voice-over which, though completely unheard in a silent film, is so beautifully gestured that we understand exactly what the announcer is saying.

The whole launch and countdown scene is one of the greatest sequences in science fiction, full of painstaking detail, creating immense drive and drama but in a vein of complete human reality. The added film score by Marsalis lends impetus particularly to this sequence.

Scenes of the craft in weightlessness are also well-grounded in physics (rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth was technical consultant). Unfortunately the landing on the moon also lands us right back in the Harlequin romance script. The lunar scenery leaves reality completely behind, while the whole hour-long Gold Syndicate subplot at the beginning basically evaporates into a bit of wrestling in the sand.

The romantic triangle is a good enough romantic triangle. It just seems like a long way to go to have a soap opera.

Even so, the amazing middle part contains maybe the most powerful dramatization of real science that I have seen, inventing the countdown sequence now used routinely in space and military launches. These scenes can be watched separately as a smaller, almost self-contained masterpiece within the much longer film.

The impact that Fritz Lang's last silent movie would have on the world is bigger than the impact his film has had on audiences. By this i mean that although the influence of this film can be sensed everywhere--from real-world rocket launches to other space exploration stories--it remains relatively unknown to most people today.

To those who are familiar with it, even the severly edited version that had previously been available before this DVD release, it is most famous for its scientific accuracy in the launching of the rocket, and especially notable for the famous 5,4,3,2,1 countdown, which has since been the definitive rocket launch protocol. Outside of the real world, Lang's vision of space travel proved to be the cinematic archetype for decades, until the new wave of 2001 and Star Wars. It's influence can be seen directly and indirectly accross all genres, even in Abbott & Costello Go to Mars!

One of the common complaints about the story is the scientific inaccuracies, specifically the atmosphere on the moon. It has been validly argued that Lang and his scientific advisors should have been aware that there is no atmosphere on the moon--and they were! What most people overlook in their nitpicking is that the film clearly explains the theory of a partial atmosphere on the dark side of the moon. While this is still scientifically inaccurate to those of us who never knew a time when man had not landed on the moon, this was actually a common device used in pre-Apollo science fiction, prevelant in the Fantastic Four comic books of the 60's (and still present in the Marvel Universe today).

Of course, the film is not limited just to a moon launch and landing. There is a captivating spy thriller that leads up to the climactic voyage. While it's not by any means as exciting as the special effects-oriented half of the story, it would still stand alone as an entertaining movie.

The film has been presented in exceptional clarity for a silent movie, but that's to be expected from industry-leader Kino. My only real complaint about the DVD is the lack of special features, which should be mandatory for any movie with this much history. To Kino's credit, it does include a gallery of fascinating images, ranging from the movie poster, to stills, and behind the scenes photographs. However, it is the first time on DVD (or VHS as far as i can tell), and so an even better special edition will no doubt surface in a few years.

In the end, this film should not be elevated to more than it claims to be--the vision of a moon voyage in 1929--for as anything else it will fall short. Still, it should not be viewed merely as a time-piece or a relic, for all science fiction can become absurd in retrospect. Instead of looking back on it, it is best to look at it as a visionary forerunner looking ahead.

Poor penniless Professor Georg Manfeldt has a theory that the moon has gold, lots of it, and why not? His rich friend Wolf Helius owns a rocket factory and it seems that he has sent everything up but people. Turns out his friend Wolf has a problem; the girl Friede that he secretly loves had no idea that he felt that way and married their mutual friend and head engineer Windegger in the factory. A sophisticated criminal element gets involved and wants to control the moon gold flow.

List off occupants:
Professor Georg Manfeldt (Klaus Pohl)
Wolf Helius (Willy Fritsch)
Hans Windegger, Ingenieur (Gustav von Wangenheim)
Friede Velten, Student astrologer (Gerda Maurus)
Gustav, Child stowaway (Gustl Gstettenbaur)
Der Mann, Criminal element (Fritz Rasp)
The Mouse (Die Maus Josephine)

Everything is going along swimmingly until the obligatory lack of water, oxygen, and life.

This is not your run of the mill love on a rocket that "misfires" movie. Maybe because they took the time to flesh out the movie and not rush the story it turned out to be very sophisticated. There had time for intrigue and subterfuge as even the bad guys were well organized and believable.

Top writers and top director and UFA studios can only produce a masterpiece.

The models are very good and many of the real problems with space are anticipated and depicted, unlike some cheap remakes. I was disappointed to find that all they found on the moon is gold and not Louise Brooks; the title is misleading.

The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945

This is a beautifully restored edition of Fritz Lang's final silent film. Playing just 11 minutes short of 3 hours, the viewer must be a little patient as the story unfolds for the first hour or so. Its easy to let the aspect of space travel cause oversight to the character development and subplots as they unfold early in the film. When the rocket launch is about to take place, the characters are well developed and the spectacle of space travel takes center stage. Considering the 1929 knowledge of rocket science, many details of the trip to the moon are quite prophetic thanks to Lang's research into technology known at the time. The ending of the film works very well and the whole experience leaves the viewer with a real sense of time travel into the imagination of a great film maker. The new musical soundtrack by Jon Mirsalis is wonderful and appropriate. If you love silent film or science fiction, give Woman in the Moon consideration, it will reward you.

Frau im Mond has been given such a bum rap for so long that there never seemed to be much encentive to go out and find the darn thing. Perhaps this discouragement was a good thing considering the film had for so long only been available in badly truncated condition. The recently restored version deserves the kudos the critics have heaped upon it. (However, it is a little frustrating and ironic that Metropolis will be the only major Lang film that will never be available in its original form.)

Yes, the restored Frau has some aspects of Mabuse early on, but nothing reaching the mind melting paranoia of that classic. And yes, care was taken to add some degree of realistic conjecture to the piece. But the recurring images of the 'Nick Carter" pulp magazines (an obvious homage to Tarzan's Edgar Rice Burroughs and his popular John Carter of Mars series) really set the tone here.

This is the kind of sci-fi that was popular in the first half of the last century, with a little bit of futuristic technology thrown in with the heroes and villains and love interests. Lang and Theo, for certain, are very capable craftsman who handle this genre well enough. However, if this film does not quite hit the heights of some of their other collaborations, well that's not much a criticism.

Silent and coming in at almost three hours, this film may not be the first to come to mind for light entertainment. But if you are a devoted Lang fan and have gotten through his more celebrated works already, you certainly won't be disappointed by this piece of diversion.

Lang made this movie just a few years after Metropolis. There are a few common themes in the two: futuristic speculation, and the central position of love in rather unlikely affairs. I found it different in many ways, though.

First, it stayed closer to Lang's contemporary world. It also did a pretty good job with the science part of the science fiction, down to a realistic portrayal of NASA's Vertical Assembly Building. In fact, Lang's original description of acceleration in meters per second-squared was more accurate then the translated English caption, which used meters per second. Even though the movie stuck closer to Lang's own world, most of the movie has a much more modern look than his better-known Metropolis. The makeup and acting look more natural, at least early on, unlike the exaggerated and iconic posturings throughout Metropolis. And, although the scenes were new to audiences at the time, many Lang's elements have since become the common idiom of more recent films. That scene with the scheming powermongers (cigar-chomping woman included), in their film-equipped board room - it recurred in just about every James Bond movie to date.

A few things didn't work for me, though. I'll let the moon's breathable atmosphere slide, for dramatic convenience. The 1920s pacing got to me after a while: most of the action came in the last 45min of the 2hr 45min movie, and I found some early parts dragging. The one that I just had to grit my teeth and swallow, though, was the quest for gold (yes, that horrendously heavy stuff) as the big reason for going to the moon at all. Well, I guess Lang had to make it understandable in the idiom of the era, but I'm sure he could have done better.

Lang, the actors, and the production grew did quite well, though. Lang's Metropolis was an epic achievement. This movie approaches it, and maybe surpasses it in some ways. See Metropolis first, by all means, but see this one too.

//wiredweird

"Frau im Mond" (Woman in the Moon) is a German silent movie of 1929, direct by the great Fritz Lang ("Metropolis" fame), and deals with a trip to the moon. It is not the first to deal with a voyage to the moon -- that honor goes to George Melies 1902 film, "Le Voyage dans la lune" (Trip to the Moon) -- but it is the first to treat the subject realistically. Along with the 1950, "Destination Moon," it belongs to a trio of films which educated the public on space travel, and provided training for future space scientists, aerospace engineers (I was one), and astronauts.

It is based on a novel of the same name, written by Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou. (She also wrote "Metropolis," and it is probably due to her that a strong woman's role was included in the film.) The name of the film, "Woman in the Moon," definitely sounds silly, but is probably a play on the-man-in-the-moon theme. It also reflects the importance of the feminine character to the plot.

The evolution in technical emphasis is very revealing. Melies makes no effort to be technically sound (other that selecting Jules Verne's cannon over the even less plausible anti-gravity "Caverite" of Wells). "Frau im Mond" does make a serious attempt. In fact, its rocket is in many ways more realistic than that of the 20-year-later "Destination Moon." This realism is largely due to the great rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, who acted as technical advisor. The launch gantry and launch sequence count-down found in the film were prescient. At the same time, there are curious lapses. Too much is made of the point at which the earth and moon gravity cancel each other - there is nothing very special about this point. In particular, it is not responsible for weightless in space. That Oberth would make such a mistake is inconceivable. Perhaps the makers of the film (principally Fritz Lang) believed the public would not buy weightlessness without this plausible, though spurious, explanation. Incidentally, the film was not a great triumph for Oberth. He was to have produced a flying rocket model for the film. His failure to provide one in time hurt his standing as a practical hands-on engineer.

Another gaffe is that the moon would have enough air for humans to breathe. Again, I suspect the makers of the film knew better, but wanted to avoid the complications of space suits. (Would you really want to hide Friede's sweet face in a helmet?) Then there is the "dousing rod" to find water ... enough said! The business about "lots of gold on the moon" is also silly, but here there is a better explanation - or maybe I should say excuse. When one recalls that during the making of this film Germany was suffering great economic hardships, including hyperinflation, the prospect of Germans finding an unlimited source of gold must have been irresistible.

I characterized this film as the middle one in a trio. There are of course other films which might have been somewhat less influential or less well done, but nevertheless contributed to the dawn of the space age. "When Worlds Collide," "Rocketship X-M," and "The Conquest of Space" are three such films. The list would not be complete with including the fine, non-fiction "Man in Space" series of Walt Disney.

This film has something of a cult following, and there are a number of websites devoted to it. One of the best is http://taoyue.com/film/frau-im-mond.html .

(4.5 stars, actually)

Fritz Lang is one of my favoritest directors, and this lesser-known film, his final silent, was nothing less than the riveting high-quality product I've come to expect from him. Like a couple of his other films, it does take awhile for the story and characters to be fully set up and for the viewer to be drawn in, but once things do finally start happening, it just gets better and better. Lang loved long films, and just like with a book that runs over the "normal" length, such a film too naturally will take a bit longer in setting up the plot and characters. And since it runs to almost three hours, it doesn't need to get everything and everyone established lickety-split and to have everything wrapped up nicely and neatly in an unrealistic amount of time.

Wolf Helius is a prominent scientist who works in the rocket business and who is deeply interested in space exploration. Professor Georg Manfeldt is an eccentric older friend of his who has been reduced to poverty and disgrace because of his obsessive research into the existence of gold on the Moon. Prof. Manfeldt talks Helius into financing his dream expedition to finally prove his 30-year-old theory right. Helius's best friend and chief engineer Hans Windegger is persuaded to come along too, and Windegger's fiancée Friede, whom Helius also loves, insists she join all of them. The expedition and the preparations for it turn out to be anything but routine, since some rival elements know all about their plans and the belief that there is gold on the Moon. One of these criminals, Turner, also joins the flight. During the flight and after the rocket has successfully landed (despite having a number of potentially serious technical problems), human nature gets the better of everyone, and jealous rivalries, pettiness, and greedy self-interest start erupting right and left. It all builds up to a great ending, made even better by how it's not one of those endings the average viewer could have predicted coming a mile away.

Though it naturally will appear a bit dated today, in an era where space travel is a reality and not a sci-fi fantasy, the space technology actually seems pretty advanced and accurate for 1929. I'd personally consider a lot of the sci-fi films of the Fifties and early Sixties to be a lot more dated. As has been mentioned, the scientific staff consulting for this film did know about some of the things that ended up depicted in a rather unrealistic matter (esp. the fact that people had air to breathe on the Moon!), but it possibly was left that way because the average moviegoer might not have liked the alternate. There are also a number of plotholes that are never resolved or explained, such as just how Helius was knocked out in the taxi when Manfeldt's papers were stolen from him, why anyone is supposed to believe there's gold on the Moon, what purpose some of the people on the flight are supposed to serve apart from dramatic tension between the characters, and what exactly happens to Manfeldt after he finds his gold. Still, relatively minor problems aside, this is one compelling film, one which deserves to be ranked higher among Lang's phenomenal work.