• Not his debut (8th film according to IMDB) but my first in the archives for Lang
  • Quite an epic with the story in 3 parts clearly influenced by Griffith’s intolerance (Mideast story line, Spanish story line and Chinese story line)
  • Post great war pesimism “a ravaged town”
  • Early Lang really loves his chapter breaks like the mabuse films- works here really well with the 3 part story
  • Incredible mise-en-scene work- standouts include some of the shots with 10+ large candle and some of the lighting walking up to death’s house on the stairs
  • Early portrayal of death- which of course is done most famously by bergman in the seventh seal (1957)
  • Love vs death clear story/narrative
  • The film, special effects (on display in Chinese narrative especially with magician story line) and mostly the mise-en-scene size, grandeur and detail is really a brilliant foreshadowing of the work in metropolis to come later in 1927
  • Top 5 of the year quality
  • Highly Recommend/Must-See border leaning towards MS