SpyFi: Cinema Influence II - The Spiders, 1919 by SnakePrince55 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

- Here's the link for the last chapter before this which detailed the works of Louis Feuillade, the current segment will be a bit broken up into a few parts since our current subject HAS DONE A LOT!

Fresh off the Silent Cinema Crime Wave occurring in France , and with the end of WWII, a new cinematic genius emerges in the midst of the Weimar Republic and his icy and gloomy world view filled with intense and exciting violence and adventure, erotic heat, and exploration of the exotic - would then propel the emerging genre of adventure serials in silent cinema into a very bolder, brilliant, and much darker direction.

Taking massive influence from the films of Feuillade, Fritz Lang would chart his own course in the world of the Adventure Serial. The Spiders would be his first massive contribution to the genre and it would be released in two parts. The first part The Golden Sea (1919) and then the second, The Diamond Ship (1920) tell the story of bold American adventurer Kay Hoog and his battles with the nefarious secret criminal organization known as The SPIDERS!

The film may owe a debt to Feuillade's Les Vampires (1915-1916), what with the evil criminal organization, it's various head masterminds, a seductive femme fatale, and a bold hero who manages to challenge and outwit them - but beyond these comparisons, Lang emerges as his own creative force. Granted his brilliance is still just blossoming , and the film may sometimes lack the icy perfection and shimmering bravura of his work to come, but the elements shine through. The erotic tension, the quest for vengeance, the allure of a shadowy and seductive underworld, the pulse pounding adventure, Lang's love of ancient civilizations and Eastern mysticism and philosophy etc. etc.

Moreover, Lang differs from Feuillade in that Lang is without question a masterful visual stylist. This is not to undercut the work of Feuillade, but his work is charged by a narrative energy and speed, while his visual sensibility in presenting his narrative is rather simple and uncomplicated. Lang, on the other hand, was a brilliantly austere stylist who concocted spellbinding imagery that arrested the eye, because of its complete ability to be enmeshed within the wider scope of the overall narrative. And you'd be hard pressed not to find spellbinding moments of sheer beauty in The Spiders, whether it's the Incan city and the sacrificial scene, Kay Hoog's peril filled journey into the treacherous Spider Under-City or even the sense of timing and juxtaposition of imagery in several sequences which provide an eerie sense of menace and doom.

Looking at the film you can see the elements that would not only shape characters like Bond, Drummond and Hannabrand their adventures, but also characters like Indian Jones. The film gives a launchpad to the public imagination that would blossom forth into the spyfi thrillers of the decades to come.

Next time, a visit with a certain Doctor.........

To catch up on the project thus far, here is the link: https://www.deviantart.com/snakeprince55/gallery/90466869/the-spy-fi-project-i9a898i