Helius’s interest in both selfless capitalism and space travel makes him seek out Professor Mannfeldt who believes that not only does gold exist on the moon, but that an expedition, via a rocket, is a feasible venture. Before they can bring their plans to fruition Helius is forced, against his wishes, to include in the crew Turner, a representative of some unscrupulous businessmen. On arriving on the moon they discover that Mannfeldt was indeed right, a discovery that costs him his life at the hands of the agent, Turner, who is himself killed. With some of their equipment damaged one of the crew must stay on the moon if the others are to survive, but which one...?

Frau Im Mond (1929) was written and Directed by Fritz Lang at the height of his creative powers. In the same period he would make the seminal Metropolis (1927), M (1931) and The Testament of Dr Mabuse.

Although the film is essentially a melodrama, Lang went to extraordinary lengths to try and make the film as accurate as possible, even employing the talents of Willy Ley and Herman Oberth. Ley and Oberth would go on to play a role in the creation of the Nazi rocket program - which itself would lead to the Apollo program, when mankind finally reached the moon. Oddly, for a silent film, it is quite lengthy at two and three quarter hours long.

Today the films story is a little simplistic, as are the characters - most of whom are stereotypes. Klaus Pohl plays the archetypal mad scientist, Manfeldt, whilst Willy Fritcsh plays Wolf Helius as a good natured capitalist who is forced into a difficult compromise with less scrupulous business men. You can tell he’s a good guy as all his workers are a happy lot who are treated with equality by their employer. He is also in love with the film's love interest Friede (Gerda Maruis) who is also loved by his best friend Windegger (Gustav von Warngenheim), but is too decent a chap to do anything about it. For a bad guy you get Turner (Fritz Rasp) who, being a villain, has no redeeming qualities. Throw in a stowaway child - because that always happens on the way to the moon - and you have the rocket's rather odd crew.

Where the film really scores is in its attempt to show the mechanics of going to the moon. There's no shooting out of a cannon for Lang, as had been used in earlier films. He shows a launch that would not look odd even to a modern audience, even down to having a countdown.

The film's print is excellent for a movie of this age and the disc even comes with an extra in the form of a fifteen minute documentary by Luciano Berriayua, which is well worth a watch before you launch into the film.

Like Metropolis, Frau Im Mund is an important film in the development of science fiction films. While some of the characters seem a bit cheesy, when you see the special effects you’ll get a taste of the shudder of excitement that the original audience must have felt.

7

Charles Packer