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39-644: Produced by Henry Blanke and Hal B. Wallis , the screenplay was adapted by Lenore J. Coffee , Abem Finkel and Cameron Rogers from the 1936 novel of the same title by Lloyd C. Douglas . On a dreary, cold, and snowy day in a small town in 1919 Indiana , peddler Hannah Parmalee (Bainter) appears at the door of a kind couple, Paul Ward (Rains) and his wife, Marcia (Johnson), selling apple peelers. Asked by Mrs. Ward to come inside and warm up, Hannah sees that they are struggling financially and are in need of some domestic help. She offers her services and becomes their cook and housekeeper for room and board . Mr. Ward,

78-450: A crush on Peter. Ward's invention, an "iceless icebox ," is unintentionally revealed by Peter to local mechanics Joe Ellis (William Pawley) and his brother Bill (Edward Pawley). When the Ellis brothers steal it and have it patented, Peter feels so bad about what he did that he lies when Ward asks him about it. In the meantime, Sally becomes ill with pneumonia . Hannah persuades Ward that it

117-460: A science teacher by day, is an inventor by night attempting to create something that will provide sufficient money for Marcia, their teenaged daughter Sally (Granville) and their new baby, to have some luxuries in life. Hannah, who is extremely wise and helpful, comes up with some good ideas. She persuades Ward to sell old and useless furniture to raise money and make a place for his work in the basement. Their teenaged neighbor, Peter Trimble (Cooper),

156-551: A series of new Mabuse films, which were produced by Brauner (including the remake of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse ), though Lang did not direct any of the sequels. Lang was approaching blindness during the production, and it was his final project as director. In 1963, he appeared as himself in Jean-Luc Godard 's film Contempt . On February 8, 1960, Lang received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to

195-620: 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. Lang made twenty-two features in his 20-year American career, working in a variety of genres at every major studio in Hollywood , and occasionally producing his films as an independent. He became a naturalized citizen of

234-473: Is best to " turn the other cheek " and to give young Peter another chance. Ward then develops a new and better feature for his invention, which is on its way to becoming an electric home refrigerator. Sally recovers and she and her mother, Marcia, leave on a trip with the baby. Another crisis arises, however, when wealthy Chicago businessman Thomas Bradford (James Stephenson) arrives to discuss financing of Ward's invention. Hannah reveals to Ward that Peter Trimble

273-477: Is considered a central film in the genre. One of Lang's most praised films noir is the police drama The Big Heat (1953), known for its uncompromising brutality, especially for a scene in which Lee Marvin throws scalding coffee on Gloria Grahame 's face. As Lang's visual style simplified, in part due to the constraints of the Hollywood studio system, his worldview became increasingly pessimistic, culminating in

312-480: Is credited with launching or developing many different genres of film. Philip French of The Observer believed that Lang helped craft the "entertainment war flick" and that his interpretation of the story of Bonnie and Clyde "helped launch the Hollywood film noir". Geoff Andrew of the British Film Institute believed he set the "blueprint for the serial killer movie" through M . In December 2021, Lang

351-404: Is her son who she was forced to give up all those years ago because he was born out of wedlock . Sam Trimble adopted him after his own baby died, but Bradford is the boy's biological father. When Bradford finds out that Peter is his son, he wants to claim him. Hannah, however, persuades him not to reveal the truth to Peter. Satisfied with the kind of young man her son has become, and that he is on

390-421: Is hunted down and brought to rough justice by Berlin's criminal underworld. M remains a powerful work; it was remade in 1951 by Joseph Losey , but this version had little impact on audiences, and has become harder to see than the original film. During the climactic final scene in M , Lang allegedly threw Peter Lorre down a flight of stairs in order to give more authenticity to Lorre's battered look. Lang, who

429-435: Is one of Ward's students and the son of the richest man in town, Sam Trimble (O'Neill). Hannah is very pleased to know Peter and to be a part of his life. In her devotion to him, however, she is never able to indulge the motherly instinct she feels, except in an indirect way. He is very good at science and, after Hannah suggests that he set a good example for the boy, Ward asks young Trimble to become his assistant. Sally develops

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468-595: The Expressionist movement was building. In this first phase of his career, Lang alternated between films such as Der Müde Tod ("The Weary Death") and popular thrillers such as Die Spinnen ("The Spiders"), combining popular genres with Expressionist techniques to create an unprecedented synthesis of popular entertainment with art cinema . In 1920, Lang met his future second wife, the writer Thea von Harbou . She and Lang co-wrote all of his movies from 1921 through 1933, including Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler ("Dr. Mabuse

507-641: The Nazi German consul to the United States (due to its portrayal of Alfred Dreyfus , who was of Jewish descent), Blanke lied to him, telling him the Dreyfus affair was only a small part of the film. The Online Archive of California has a transcript of his oral recollections. Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang ( Austrian German pronunciation: [ˈfriːdʁɪç ˈkrɪsti̯a(ː)n ˈantɔn ˈlaŋ] ; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang ( pronounced [frɪts ˈlaŋ] ),

546-574: The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda . 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. Lang was worried about the advent of the Nazi regime, partly because of his Jewish heritage, whereas his wife and co-screenwriter Thea von Harbou had started to sympathize with

585-703: The Technical University of Vienna , where he studied civil engineering and eventually switched to art. He left Vienna in 1910 in order to see the world, traveling throughout Europe and Africa, and later Asia and the Pacific area. In 1913, he studied painting in Paris . At the outbreak of World War I , Lang returned to Vienna and volunteered for military service in the Austrian Army and fought in Russia and Romania , where he

624-445: The 1920s which had ultimately been directed by Joe May ), so Lang returned to Germany to make his "Indian Epic" (consisting of The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb ). Following the production, Brauner was preparing for a remake of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse when Lang approached him with the idea of adding a new original film to the series. The result was The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), whose success led to

663-561: The Gambler," 1922 – which ran for over four hours, in two parts in the original version, and was the first in the Dr. Mabuse trilogy), the five-hour Die Nibelungen (1924), the dystopian film Metropolis (1927), and the science fiction film Woman in the Moon (1929). Metropolis went far over budget and nearly destroyed UFA, which was bought by right-wing businessman and politician Alfred Hugenberg . It

702-485: The Hollywood studios before Pearl Harbor" as it is "clean and concentrated, elegant and precise, pointed without being preachy." His American films were often compared unfavorably to his earlier works by contemporary critics, although the restrained Expressionism of these films is now seen as integral to the emergence and evolution of American genre cinema, film noir in particular. Scarlet Street (1945), one of his films featuring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett ,

741-611: The Marriage Registry Office in Charlottenburg , Berlin, Lang married a theater actress, Elisabeth Rosenthal, who died on 25 September 1920, in their bathtub, under mysterious circumstances, of a single gunshot wound, deemed to have been fired by Lang's Browning revolver , from World War I. Lang's writing stint was brief, as he soon started to work as a director at the German film studio UFA , and later Nero-Film , just as

780-514: The Nazis in the early 1930s, and later joined the Nazi party in 1940. After he discovered von Harbou in bed with Ayi Tendulkar , an Indian journalist and student 17 years younger than her, they soon divorced. Lang's fears would be realized following his departure from Austria, as under the racist Nuremberg Laws he would be identified as half-Jewish even though his mother was a converted Roman Catholic, and he

819-449: The United States in 1939. Signing first with MGM Studios, Lang's crime drama Fury (1936) saw Spencer Tracy cast 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. However, in Fury , he was not allowed to represent black victims in a lynching scenario or to criticize racism, which was his original intention. By

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858-496: The Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945) and The Big Heat (1953). He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939. Lang was born in Vienna , as the second son of Anton Lang (1860–1940), an architect and construction company manager, and his wife Pauline "Paula" Lang ( née Schlesinger; 1864–1920). His mother was born Jewish and converted to Catholicism. His father

897-548: 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 evening, leaving most of his money and personal possessions behind. However, his passport of the time showed that he traveled to and from Germany a few times during 1933. Lang left Berlin for good on July 31, 1933, four months after his meeting with Goebbels and his initial departure. He moved to Paris, having divorced Thea von Harbou , who stayed behind, earlier in 1933. In Paris, Lang filmed

936-509: The cold, geometric style of his last American films, While the City Sleeps (1956) and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). Finding it difficult to find congenial production conditions and backers in Hollywood, particularly as his health declined with age, Lang contemplated retirement. The German producer Artur Brauner had expressed interest in remaking The Indian Tomb (from an original story by Thea von Harbou, that Lang had developed in

975-464: 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

1014-566: The influential M (1931), a film noir precursor. His 1929 film Woman in the Moon showcased the use of a multi-stage rocket , and also pioneered the concept of a rocket launch pad (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch countdown clock. His other major films include Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922), Die Nibelungen (1924), and after moving to Hollywood in 1934, Fury (1936), You Only Live Once (1937), Hangmen Also Die! (1943), The Woman in

1053-657: The motion picture industry, located at 1600 Vine Street . Lang died from a stroke on August 2, 1976, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles . While his career had ended without fanfare, Lang's American and later German works were championed by the critics of the Cahiers du cinéma , such as François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette . Truffaut wrote that Lang, especially in his American career,

1092-402: The production manager of Fritz Lang 's 1927 film Metropolis and then Warners re-hired him and put him in charge of German co-productions. He eventually became a power at Warner's becoming production supervisor and working at the studio for over 25 years. When Hal B. Wallis became production chief after Darryl F. Zanuck left in 1933, Blanke and Sam Bischoff were the main producers at

1131-577: The right path in life, Hannah, leaves without Peter, who believes that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. She walks off into the wintry landscape. The film, Fay Bainter and others of the cast received very good reviews in the Los Angeles Times . Bainter was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as Hannah Parmalee. Henry Blanke Henry Blanke (December 30, 1901 – May 28, 1981)

1170-476: The studio. In 1945, Blanke signed a 15-year contract with the studio and by 1953, was one of only three producers left, along with Bischoff and David Weisbart . Among his Hollywood producing credits are: Of Human Bondage (1946), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and The Fountainhead (1949). When the announced production of The Life of Emile Zola (1937) came under fire from Georg Gyssling ,

1209-505: The time Fury was released, Lang had been involved in the creation of the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League, working with Otto Katz , a Czech who was a Comintern spy. He made four films with an explicitly anti-Nazi theme, Man Hunt (1941), Hangmen Also Die! (1943), Ministry of Fear (1944) and Cloak and Dagger (1946). Man Hunt , wrote Dave Kehr in 2009, "may be the best" of the "many interventionist films produced by

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1248-788: Was a German-born film producer who also worked as an assistant director, supervisor, writer, and production manager. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Nun’s Story (1959). He was born Heinz Blanke in Steglitz , Berlin, Germany, the son of painter Wilhelm Blanke . He began his career as a film cutter in 1920. Blanke became an assistant to Ernst Lubitsch and moved to Hollywood with him to make films with Warner Bros. including The Marriage Circle (1924). He produced nine films in his native Germany before emigrating to Hollywood. After Lubitsch left, Blanke stayed on as an assistant director. He returned to Germany to be

1287-421: Was a financial flop, as were his last silent films Spies (1928) and Woman in the Moon , produced by Lang's own company. In 1931, independent producer Seymour Nebenzahl hired Lang to direct M for Nero-Film. His first "talking" picture , considered by many film scholars to be a masterpiece of the early sound era, M is a disturbing story of a child murderer ( Peter Lorre in his first starring role) who

1326-505: Was an Austrian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism , he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute . He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Lang's most celebrated films include the groundbreaking futuristic science-fiction film Metropolis (1927) and

1365-545: Was described as a "lapsed Catholic." He was baptized on December 28, 1890, at the Schottenkirche in Vienna. He had an elder brother, Adolf (1884–1961). Lang's parents were of Moravian descent. At one point, he noted that he was “born [a] Catholic and very puritan". Ultimately describing himself as an atheist , Lang believed that religion was important for teaching ethics. After finishing school, Lang briefly attended

1404-421: Was greatly underappreciated by "cinema historians and critics" who "deny him any genius when he 'signs' spy movies ... war movies ... or simple thrillers." Filmmakers that were influenced by his work include George Lucas , Jacques Rivette , William Friedkin , Steven Spielberg , Christopher Nolan , Luis Buñuel , Osamu Tezuka , Alfred Hitchcock , Satyajit Ray , Jean-Luc Godard and Stanley Kubrick . Lang

1443-457: Was known for being hard to work with, epitomized the stereotype of the tyrannical Germanic film director, a type embodied also by Erich von Stroheim and Otto Preminger ; Lang wore a monocle , adding to the stereotype. In the films of his German period, Lang produced a coherent oeuvre that established the characteristics later attributed to film noir , with its recurring themes of psychological conflict, paranoia, fate and moral ambiguity. At

1482-440: Was raised as such. 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

1521-538: Was wounded four times and lost sight in his right eye, the first of many vision issues he would face in his lifetime. While recovering from his injuries and shell shock in 1916, he wrote some scenarios and ideas for films. He was discharged from the army with the rank of lieutenant in 1918 and did some acting in the Viennese theater circuit for a short time before being hired as a writer at Decla Film , Erich Pommer 's Berlin-based production company. On 13 February 1919, in

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