Film Festival 09 - Spies
Spies
Spione, Germany 1928, 178m
Director: Fritz Lang
A banner event for lovers of Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis), machine
age decadence, or just plain pulse-pounding entertainment: the New
Zealand Film Archive has imported from Germany a gorgeously
restored print of the film that set the template for virtually
every spy movie of the last 80 years. Neil Brand will provide piano
accompaniment to match Lang's delirious epic of espionage, opium,
fiendish gadgetry and sexual intrigue. The film's reptilian master
criminal Haghi doubles as respected director of an international
bank and evil mastermind, head of a spy ring specializing in the
theft of government documents. "The exploits of the evil genius
Haghi represent criminality almost in the abstract, and plunge the
movie into a delirium of disguises, deaths, double-motives, and
labyrinthine tricks. The tone is somewhere between true pulp
fiction and pure expressionism, and the result remains wholly
thrilling." - Tony Rayns, Time Out Film Guide
German intertitles with English translation
