| The Spiders (Die Spinnen) |
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|---|---|
| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Erich Pommer |
| Written by | Fritz Lang |
| Starring | Carl de Vogt Ressel Orla Georg John Lil Dagover |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Distributed by | Decla-Bioscop AG |
| Release date(s) | 3 October 1919 (Part I) 2 February 1920 (Part II) |
| Running time | 137 min |
| Country | Weimar Republic |
| Language | Silent film German intertitles |
The Spiders (German: Die Spinnen) is a adventure film directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in two parts in 1919 and 1920.
Contents |
In San Francisco, well-known sportsman Kay Hoog announces to a club that he has found a message in a bottle with a map drawn by a Harvard professor who has gone missing. The map tells of a lost Incan civilization that possesses an immense treasure. Hoog immediately plans an expedition to find it. But Lio Sha, the head of a criminal organization known as the Spiders, is determined to get the treasure for herself and plans a rival expedition.
Fritz Lang was early in his directorial career when he accepted an assignment to direct what was to be a mystery-action serial comprising four feature-length episodes. Lang was forced by this assignment to relinquish the directorial duties of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was also released by the distributor Decla-Bioscop AG in 1919.[1] Lang completed two episodes before the project was cut short by the films’ producer. Part one was released as The Golden Lake (Die Spinnen, 1. Teil: Der Goldene See) and part two as The Diamond Ship (Die Spinnen, 2. Teil: Das Brillantenschiff).
The Spiders was considered a lost film for many years before an original print was discovered in the 1970s. This surviving print was used for a restoration of the film completed in 1978.[2]. The restored version appears to be missing a small amount of the original footage. This version was released on DVD in 1999.
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