Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Austrian-born film director Fritz Lang (1890-1976), who was one of the most celebrated film-makers of the 20th century. He worked first in Weimar Germany, creating a range of films including the startling and subversive Mabuse the Gambler and the iconic but ruinously expensive Metropolis before arguably his masterpiece, M, with both the police and the underworld hunting for a child killer in Berlin, his first film with sound. The rise of the Nazis prompted Lang's move to Hollywood where he developed some of his Weimar themes in memorable and disturbing films such as Fury and The Big Heat.
With
Stella Bruzzi Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London
Joe McElhaney Professor of Film Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York
And
Iris Luppa Senior Lecturer in Film Studies in the Division of Film and Media at London South Bank University
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.7 | Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
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| 0:12.8 | at BBC In Our Time. |
| 0:14.6 | I hope you enjoyed the programs. |
| 0:16.3 | Hello, Frits Lang, 1890 to 1976, |
| 0:19.8 | was one of the most celebrated filmmakers |
| 0:21.8 | for the last century, working first in By My Germany, |
| 0:24.8 | then in Hollywood. |
| 0:26.2 | Later audiences know him best from a tropless, |
| 0:28.6 | a groundbreaking dystopian vision of the silent era, |
| 0:31.6 | or for crime movers, such as the big heat in 1953. |
| 0:36.4 | Yet others, such as M, his first film with sound, |
| 0:40.4 | have been even more influential. |
| 0:42.4 | And with his earlier silent film, Mapuz at the Gambler, |
| 0:45.4 | even more disturbing. |
| 0:47.0 | We're going to discuss Frits Lang, our Irish Looper, |
| 0:50.3 | senior lecturer in film studies, |
| 0:52.4 | in the division of film and media at London Southbank University, |
| 0:57.6 | Joan McElhaney, professor of film studies |
| 0:59.9 | at Hunter College City University of New York, |
... |
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