Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang (December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976) was an Austrian-German film director, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Lang's most famous films are the groundbreaking science-fiction film Metropolis (1927) - the world's most expensive silent film at the time of its release - and the influential thriller film M (1931), made before he moved to the United States. Lang's work had a significant influence on the film noir genre and in Hollywood, he made some classics himself, such as Scarlet Street (1945) and The Big Heat (1953).

Filmography

• 2025Sibyl — (Archive footage)
• The Word According to Whoopi — Sound Mixer
• 1990Fritz Lang
• 1982M the Damned — Original Film Writer
• 1968For Example Fritz Lang
• 1963Contempt — Fritz Lang
• 1960Journey to the Lost City — Screenplay, Director
• 1960The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1959The Indian Tomb — Writer, Director
• 1959The Tiger of Eschnapur — Director, Writer
• 1956Beyond a Reasonable Doubt — Director
• 1956While the City Sleeps — Director
• 1955Moonfleet — Director
• 1954Human Desire — Director
• 1953The Big Heat — Director
• 1953The Black Vampire — Original Film Writer
• 1953The Blue Gardenia — Director
• 1952Clash by Night — Director
• 1952Rancho Notorious — Director
• 1951M — Original Story
• 1950American Guerrilla in the Philippines — Director
• 1950House by the River — Director
• 1947Secret Beyond the Door — Director, Producer
• 1946Cloak and Dagger — Director
• 1945Scarlet Street — Director, Producer
• 1944Ministry of Fear — Director
• 1944The Woman in the Window — Director
• 1943Hangmen Also Die! — Director, Producer, Original Story, Adaptation
• 1942Moontide — Co-Director
• 1941Confirm or Deny — Co-Director
• 1941Man Hunt — Director
• 1941Western Union — Director
• 1940The Return of Frank James — Director
• 1938You and Me — Producer, Director
• 1937You Only Live Once — Director
• 1936Fury — Director, Screenplay
• 1934Liliom — Director, Writer
• 1933The Testament of Dr. Mabuse — Screenplay, Director, Producer
• 1933The Testament of Dr. Mabuse — Director
• 1931M — Director, Screenplay
• 1929Woman in the Moon — Screenplay, Director, Producer
• 1928Spies — Director, Writer
• 1927Metropolis — Director, Editor, Screenplay
• 1924Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge — Director
• 1924Die Nibelungen: Siegfried — Director, Screenplay
• 1922Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler — Director, Screenplay
• 1921Destiny — Director, Writer
• 1921Four Around the Woman — Director, Screenplay
• 1921The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi — Writer
• 1921The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur — Writer
• 1920The Mistress of the World, Part VIII: The Revenge of Maud Fergusson — Writer
• 1920The Spiders: Part 2 - The Diamond Ship — Director, Writer
• 1920The Wandering Image — Director, Writer
• 1919Bettler GmbH — Writer
• 1919Die Frau mit den Orchideen — Writer
• 1919Die Rache ist mein — Writer
• 1919Half-Blood — Director, Screenplay
• 1919Harakiri — Director
• 1919Lilith and Ly — Writer
• 1919Master of Love — Director
• 1919The Dance of Death — Screenplay
• 1919The Plague in Florence — Screenplay
• 1919The Spiders: Part 1 - The Golden Sea — Director, Writer
• 1919Wolkenbau und Flimmerstern — Writer
• 1917Die Hochzeit im Excentricclub — Screenplay
• 1917Hilde Warren and Death — Writer
• 1916Die Peitsche — Screenplay

Appearances as themselves (15)

• 2017Mimosa Tank: A Prologue for a Film — Self
• 2015From Caligari to Hitler — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2010Voyage to 'Metropolis' — Self (archive footage)
• 2004Fritz Lang, le cercle du destin - Les films allemands — Self (archive footage)
• 2003Les messages de Fritz Lang — Himself
• Das Jahrhundert des Theaters — Self (archive footage)
• 1989The Exiles — Self
• 1975Conversation with Fritz Lang — Self
• Film Emigration from Nazi Germany — Self
• 1967The Dinosaur and the Baby — Self
• 1964Bardot et Godard — Self
• 1964Encounter with Fritz Lang — Self - Interviewee
• 1964Paparazzi — Self
• German Film Award — Self
• 1924The Film in the Film — Self