Spies

Director: Fritz Lang Fritz Lang

Overview

Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German "thriller" director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another. The film was co-scripted by Lang and his then-wife Thea Von Harbou.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2016
UPC:	0738329203320
Original Release:	1928
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:30:00
Sales rank:	53,138

Special Features

2K digital restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung; Piano score by Neil Brand; "Spies: A Small Film With Lots of Action" (2006, 72 Min.) a documentary by Guido Altendorf and Anke Wilkening; Original German theatrical trailer (5 min.) courtesy of the Austrian Film Museum, Vienna

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Willy Fritsch	No. 326
Gerda Maurus	Sonia
Lupu Pick	Dr. Matsumoto
Lien Deyers	Kitty
Craighall Sherry	Burton Jason
Fritz Rasp	Colonel Jellusic
Louis Ralph	Morrier
Hertha von Walther	Lady Leslane
Julius Falkenstein	Hotel Manager
Georg John	Train Conductor
Paul Rehkopf	Strolch
Paul Hörbiger	Valet
Rudolph Klein-Rogge	Haghi
Grete Berger	Actor
Rose Valetti	Actor
Hermann Vallentin	Actor
Hans von Twardowski	Chief Jason's Secretary (Spy)
Werner Heymann	Composer

Technical Credits

Fritz Lang

Thea von Harbou

Fritz Lang	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Thea von Harbou	Screenwriter
Erich Pommer	Producer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Spies
1. Chapter 1 [13:21]
2. Chapter 2 [15:18]
3. Chapter 3 [24:51]
4. Chapter 4 [15:45]
5. Chapter 5 [35:15]
6. Chapter 6 [2:18]
7. Chapter 7 [19:46]
8. Chapter 8 [19:12]
9. Chapter 9 [4:14]
10. Chapter 10 [:00]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Spies
   Play
   Chapters
   Extras
      "Spies: A Small Film With Lots Of Action"
      Original German Theatrical Trailer

Editorial Reviews

In the tradition of his popular Dr. Mabuse films (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse), Fritz Lang's Spies revolves around the baroque schemes of a criminal mastermind -- in this case, Haghi (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), a master spy who operates from a secret office inside a bank. The plot is a virtual template for all espionage movies to come. It's full of double agents, secret documents, assassinations, and even a love story between two agents on opposite sides of the vast game Haghi is playing. In contrast to Lang's silent masterpieces Metropolis and Die Nibelungen: Siegfried, with their gargantuan sets and stately, myth-like plots and pacing, Spies is made with swifter strokes. It begins with a quick-moving montage of murders, heists, and other crimes that sets the mood for the fast-paces, densely plotted action to follow. This, and a brilliantly designed and edited later passage which finds the hero, Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), trapped in a train car about to be obliterated by an oncoming locomotive, are two of the film's great action sequences. Its ending, in which master-of-disguise Haghi's surprising secret identity is revealed, provides one of the most shockingly surreal moments in Lang's ouevre.

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