Spione
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| Spione | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Erich Pommer |
| Written by | Fritz Lang Thea von Harbou |
| Starring | Rudolf Klein-Rogge Gerda Maurus Willy Fritsch Georg John |
| Music by | Werner R. Heymann |
| Cinematography | Fritz Arno Wagner |
| Release date(s) | March 22, 1928 |
| Running time | 178 min. (16 frame/s) |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | Silent film German intertitles |
Spione (English title: Spies, under which title it was released in the United States) is a German silent espionage thriller written and directed by Fritz Lang in 1928. Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, worked as a co-writer. The film was Lang's penultimate silent film, and the first for his own production company; Fritz Lang-film GmbH.[1] As in Lang's Mabuse films, such as Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays a master criminal aiming for world domination.[2]
Spione was restored to its original length by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung during 2003 and 2004. No original negatives exist anymore but a high quality nitrate copy is held at the Národni Filmovy Archiv at Prague.[1]
Plot
With the help of technology, informers and moles, Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) leads a secret life as the head of an international spy ring. Haghi is confined to a wheelchair, and is also a bank director, a position that apparently makes him richer than Henry Ford, although he "pays significantly less in taxes". Haghi has safes burgled, secret documents stolen, diplomats assassinated and generally has the national Secret Service running around in circles. To counter this, the Secret Service assigns their best agent, Number 326, to topple the diabolical king from his throne. Haghi is wise to this plan and assigns the beautiful Russian agent Sonja to seduce him. Sonja finds Number 326 so suave that she falls almost immediately in love with him, which complicates the situation. Featuring disappearing ink, bulletproof wallets, hidden microphones and more than one action-packed chase scene, Spies can be considered the granddad of the James Bond films. The heroes finally catch up to Haghi when they infiltrate a circus where he is pretending to be a clown called Nemo and he commits suicide. The circus-goers applaud his hara-kiri; they think it is all a big show.
References
- ^ a b "Spione". DVD Times. http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=56988. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
- ^ Jeavons, Clyde. "Spies (Spione)". London Film Festival. http://www.lff.org.uk/films_details.php?FilmID=533. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
External links
- Spione at the Internet Movie Database
- Spione at Allmovie
- Machinations of an Incoherent, Malevolent Universe by Adrian Martin
- Darragh O’Donoghue in senses of cinema
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