Tracking Fritz Lang
For many, the name Fritz Lang is synonymous with the image of a futuristic female robot, the haunting poster child for his 1927 science fiction classic “Metropolis.” But the Austrian-born director was a master of many genres, as visitors to the Harvard Film Archive (HFA) will see for themselves in the coming months. Beginning Friday and running through Sept. 1, the HFA will present a complete retrospective of Lang’s silent and talking feature films. With almost 40 works in total, the series is a tribute to the director’s remarkable range. It includes science fiction, spy thrillers, crime dramas, Westerns, and fantasy. In “1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse” Peter van Eyck and Dawn Addams attempt to solve a series of mysterious crimes and avoid becoming victims themselves. An in-depth look at Lang, whose career spanned almost 50 years, has long been a goal at the HFA. Following the success of last summer’s Alfred Hitchcock...