When I saw this set announced, I was surprised and delighted as I was completely unfamiliar with any of these movies. I must have read about them in Patrick McGilligan’s thorough 1997 biography of Lang but I don’t recall them. Then again they haven’t been available for home viewing until now. All three are based on earlier restorations from the 1970s and 80s but are only just now coming to Blu-Ray and DVD. While they were fascinating to see, they’re definitely a mixed bag and are unlikely to be of any real interest to anyone outside of silent film enthusiasts and/or Fritz Lang completists.
Film #1: HARAKIRI (1919)- This was by far the weakest of the three despite being based on MADAME BUTTERFLY and featuring Lil Dagover. With a few exceptions, the film lacks the dynamic Lang visual flourishes and the story, as presented, is just not that involving. It does have great sets and costumes and HARAKIRI was released with a killer poster which is reproduced on the DVD cover. The best silent version of MADAME BUTTERFLY is the 1922 early Technicolor film TOLL OF THE SEA with a teenage Anna May Wong.
Film #2: THE WANDERING SHADOW (1920) – Although not the best of the trio, THE WANDERING SHADOW was my personal favorite and was the first collaboration between Lang and future wife Thea von Harbou. The story involves a proponet of free love, a woman on the run, and Christian mythology involving the Virgin Mary. The strong but tormented female lead was Mia May who specialized in these types of roles and the Alpine location shooting looks forward to the mountain films of Arnold Fanck. While the film is melodramatic and improbable, it is highly entertaining.
Film #3: FOUR AROUND THE WOMAN (1921) – This film foreshadows the Fritz Lang that most people are familiar with. The story of a wealthy businesman’s wife with its criminal underworld setting looks forward to the DR MABUSE films and to M. Seedy dives (Upton’s Tavern is a classic) are contrasted with an opulent hotel (similar to THE LAST LAUGH) and characters who look like something out of THE THREEPENNY OPERA (perhaps Bertolt Brecht’s inspiration?). It is this film that will appeal more to the general public at large.
The restoration work on the films varies from title to title. HARAKIRI, which was located in the Netherlands, is plagued by several missing frames and a very contrasty look athough even a quality restoration wouldn’t help the glacial pace and uninteresting characters. Considerable footage is missing from WANDERING SHADOW but the reconstruction with intertitles works just fine and the pictorial quality of the print is much better. FOUR AROUND THE WOMAN is also missing footage but it flows rather well although the complex plot seems to be missing something. This print was located in Brazil.
The F. W. Murnau Foundation has done their usual fine job considering the material they had to work with although, as I mentioned earlier, the appeal of this set will be rather limited. The musical settings by Aljoscha Zimmerman are well suited to the material although a little more exoticism in HARAKIRI might have helped to make it less tedious. Thanks to Kino for making the set of rare films available although without Fritz Lang’s name, they probably wouldn’t have resurfaced at all.
The Capsule Critic 