Fritz Lang

Why did German genius filmmaker Fritz Lang flee to the United States? If you believe him, he made the decision to leave his native country after a meeting with the Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, Joseph Goebbels. As Lang told it, Goebbels wanted him to make films for the Nazi regime. But this account has been debunked since: apparently there never was such a meeting.

 

In this video essay for Transit, Guillermo Triguero uses the supercut model to illustrate this fictitious account with footage from Fritz Lang’s own movies. It’s an idea that is as elegant as it is brilliant, as it reveals how Lang uses the same narrative techniques and telling details in his fake autobiographical anecdote as he does in his movies. Note for example the way Lang weaves mentions of the clocktower into his tale, to heighten suspense, or how he describes the setting of his alleged meeting with Goebbels in terms that remind of cinematic mise-en-scène.