inema that would later find expression in key films noir as well as horror, science fiction, and spy thrillers (Emerson, 1998; Thomas, 2001). Although much can be examined when studying this time period or these directors, for purposes of length, this paper will be limited in scope to the influence that Fritz Lang, in particular, had on the American cinema.
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna in 1890 to an architect father who managed a construction company and a Jewish mother who had converted to Catholicism by the time Lang was ten years old. After high school, Lang enrolled in the Technische Hochschule Wien (ViennaÆs College of Technical Sciences of the Academy of Graphic Arts). However, he was unhappy with the school his parents had chosen for him and ran away to study art in Munich, Paris, Asia and North Africa (ôBiography for Fritz Lang,ö 2001).
At the advent of World War I, he was drafted into the Austrian army and was wounded three times before being sent home shell-shocked and with permanent eye damage (Thomas, 2001). While he was recuperating he tried his hand at scriptwriting and soon began working with Erich PrommerÆs production company in Berlin as a script reader, writer, and eventually, as a director. His directorial debut was ôHalbblutö (ôThe Halfbreedö) in 1919 (Scheuer, 2001).
In 1920, Lang joined forces with actress/writer Thea Von Harbou. Over the next ten years of their relationship the collaborated on several films, beginning with "Der Mude Tod" ("The Tired Death")(1921). One of the most celebrated films was "M" (19
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