Fritz Lang (December 5, 1890 - August 2, 1976)

[LessAspin]

Fritz Lang would have turned 130 eleven days ago. So many interesting parallels between the issues Fritz dealt with and what we're going through today..

...At the end of 1932, Lang started filming The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933, and by March 30, the new regime banned it as an incitement to public disorder. Testament is sometimes deemed an anti-Nazi film, as Lang had put phrases used by the Nazis into the mouth of the title character. A screening of the film was cancelled by Joseph Goebbels, and it was later banned by the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.[12] In banning the film, Goebbels stated that the film "showed that an extremely dedicated group of people are perfectly capable of overthrowing any state with violence", and that the film posed a threat to public health and safety.[13]

Lang was worried about the advent of the Nazi regime, partly because of his Jewish heritage,[14] whereas his wife and co-screenwriter Thea von Harbou had started to sympathize with the Nazis in the early 1930s and, in 1940, joined the NSDAP.[citation needed] They soon divorced. Lang's fears would be realized following his departure from Austria, as under the Nuremberg Laws he would be identified as a part-Jew even though his mother was a converted Roman Catholic, and he was raised as such.

Emigration

According to Lang, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called Lang to his offices to inform him – apologetically – that The Testament of Dr Mabuse was being banned but, nevertheless, he was so impressed by Lang's abilities as a filmmaker (especially Metropolis), that he offered Lang the position of head of German film studio UFA. Lang said it was during that meeting he had decided to leave for Paris – but that the banks had closed by the time the meeting was over. Lang claimed that, after selling his wife's jewelry, he fled by train to Paris that very evening, leaving most of his money and personal possessions behind.[15][16][17][18] However, his passport of the time showed that he traveled to and from Germany a few times during 1933.[19]

Lang left Berlin for good on July 31, 1933, four months after his meeting with Goebbels and his initial departure. He moved to Paris,[20] and divorced Thea von Harbou, who stayed behind, late in 1933.[21]

In Paris, Lang filmed a version of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, starring Charles Boyer. That was Lang's only film in French (excluding the French version of Testament). He then moved to the United States...

So we have Fritz leaving Nazi Germany, and his Nazi wife, just in the nick of time.

Only to arrive in America finding so much racism that he wants to address this in his films..

Hollywood career (1936–1957)

In Hollywood, Lang signed first with MGM Studios. His first American film was the crime drama Fury (1936), which starred Spencer Tracy as a man who is wrongly accused of a crime and nearly killed when a lynch mob sets fire to the jail where he is awaiting trial. From the beginning Lang was struggling with restrictions in the United States. Thus, in Fury he was not allowed to represent black victims in a lynching scenario or to criticize racism...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang