World Famous Comics: Gustl Gstettenbaur Woman In the Moon
Gustl Gstettenbaur Woman In the Moon
Starring: Willy Fritsch, Gerda Maurus, Klaus Pohl, Fritz Rasp, Gustl Gstettenbaur Directed By: Fritz Lang Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Silent, NTSC Label: Kino Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 09, 2004 Running Time: 169 minutes Theatrical Release Date: February 06, 1931
A stunning visual delight! Made at the artistic pinnacle and end of the silent era in 1929, this beautiful film is gripping, stunning and very surprising for the nearly three hours of its duration, and as thus, perhaps also the high point of Fritz Lang's career. After his success with the now classic Sci-Fi drama "Metropolis" a few years earlier, Lang once again collaborated with screenwriter (and wife at that time) Thea von Harbou, to produce another outstanding creation, this time including elements of his other successful films with themes of espionage and intrigue. The result is a very smooth-flowing, captivating and engrossing story which borders on reality and fantasy. Conceived some decades before rocket and space travel technology, the scenes depicting the trip to the moon are at times amusingly simplistic but other times remarkably close to reality and very impressive. Yet even in its simplicity there is elegance and style, and the viewer is reminded that this is a highly artistic silent film. Attention has been given not just to the sets but also the characters and their relationships to one another which build to a climax near the film's end. Fritz Lang was able to draw out the emotions and ideas which drive a person, and this is superbly done in the main characters: the ostracized professor whose ideas about finding precious metals on the moon are ridiculed, the two friends planning a moon trip and their love triangle with a fellow female astronaut, as well as the ever-intriguing agent of evil played by Fritz Rasp who excels in such roles. With Germany's best cast and crew on hand, "Woman in the Moon" should be better known than it is, but its excellence is subtle somehow, and seems to reveal itself more each time you view it. And viewing is certainly a pleasure, with absolutely perfect picture quality in pristine black and white, accompanied by a most suitable piano and orchestral score. This film is more than just an outstanding example of early Science Fiction; it is a work of art in Lang's own style and apart from the light-and-shadow Expressionist style used frequently by his German colleagues. There is much light and brightness in this film which suits the mood of boldly going where no man - or woman - has gone before, and it leaves the viewer with a positive and satisfied feeling.
A movie well ahead of it's time I decided to buy this DVD after seeing the rocket launching sequence on television's `Classic Arts Showcase'. I was amazed that the quality of the miniatures and full-size mockups seemed so far advanced for the year of filming. This is a long film by any standards and must have seemed even longer to audiences viewing this almost eighty years ago. We take for granted that space shuttles are assembled in a large building and are rolled out to their launch site, but we can only imagine what their minds made of this at a time when people were only starting to take to the skies in the most primitive of aircraft. I find it amazing that so many of the movie techniques and clichés that, perhaps, we now criticize for their lack of originality; first saw their use in this film.
I agree that the film could do with a little judicious editing, but the quality of the film together with the excellent music accompaniment make its purchase an obvious choice for any movie buff, especially one interested in science fiction.
Classic Science Fiction This copy has the full dinner scene which is a bit lengthy for a modern audience. However it does make the film complete.
It is classic, so little else to say. If you are a fan of silents, Fritz Lang, or Science Fiction, this is a worthy addition to have if not to watch.
Wow Perhaps so soon after Metropolis, you'd expect nothing less than another great silent film from Fritz Lang: especially since this one was not done on a shoe-string budget. But even given that thought, this film exceeded my expectations. It's still a gripping tale with special effects that are fascinating to see and actually have an effect. I found myself wishing that, for one night, I could become a member of the population that saw it for the first time in theaters. What it would have felt like as they were about to land on the moon!!! Obviously, many stories and films have re-used the characters in one way or another - but this original hasn't lost any of its impact on that account.
An underrated treat (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.
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