We’ve selected 10 essential films by filmmaker Fritz Lang for you to watch. Lang directed dozens of films, having successful works in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, leaving a brilliant legacy.
10 – House by the River (1950)
Wealthy writer Stephen Byrne tries to seduce the family maid, but when she resists, he kills her. Long jealous of his brother John, Stephen does his best to pin the blame for the murder on his sibling. Also affected by Stephen’s arrogant dementia is his long-suffering wife Marjorie.
9 – While the City Sleeps (1956)
Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed “The Lipstick Killer”. A great thriller from 1950’s.
8 – Human Desire (1954)
Jeff Warren, a Korean War vet just returning to his railroad engineer’s job, boards at the home of co-worker Alec Simmons and is charmed by Alec’s beautiful daughter. He becomes attracted immediately to Vicki Buckley, the sultry wife of brutish railroad supervisor Carl Buckley, an alcoholic wife beater with a hair-trigger temper and penchant for explosive violence. Jeff becomes reluctantly drawn into a sordid affair by the compulsively seductive Vicki. After Buckley is fired for insubordination, he begs her to intercede on his behalf with John Owens, a rich and powerful businessman whose influence can get him reinstated.
7 – Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
Fritz Lang’s psycho thriller tells the story of a woman who marries a stranger with a deadly hobby and through their love he attempts to fight off his obsessive-compulsive actions.
6 – You Only Live Once (1937)
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.
5 – Ministry of Fear (1944)
Stephen Neale is released into WWII England after two years in an asylum, but it doesn’t seem so sane outside either. On his way back to London to rejoin civilization, he stumbles across a murderous spy ring and doesn’t quite know to whom to turn.
4 – The Big Heat (1953)
Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate. A true Noir classic that you must watch.
3 – Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse’s next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.
2 – M (1931)
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert’s heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
1 – Metropolis (1927)
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city’s mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.