Product Description

The Spiders by Fritz Lang is considered by many to be the real beginning of the golden age of the German silent film. An adventure story about an organized band of criminals who scheme to dominate the world, "The Spiders" was long considered a lost film until its three year reconstruction by film historians David and Kimberly Shepard using original German censorship records and Lang's own instructions for color tinting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42468 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-08-17
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Silent, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 130 minutes

Amazon.com
Fritz Lang's first major success as a director was with this exotic, globetrotting adventure. It's actually made up of two short silent features that were the first of a proposed quartet of movies about the adventures of high-society adventurer Kay Hoog (Carl de Vogt, whose gaunt, expressionless face resembles a younger William S. Hart) and his arch nemesis, a secret criminal organization known as the Spiders. Part 1 ("The Golden Lake") is a treasure hunt that takes both Kay and Spiders mastermind Lio Sha (Ressel Orla) to Peru, where they battle primitive Incas (who capture Lio for a human sacrifice) and each other for a fortune in hidden gold. Part 2 ("The Diamond Ship") is a longer and far more intricate conspiracy involving a hidden criminal underground beneath the streets of Chinatown, a legendary lost jewel known as the Buddha Head Diamond, and an ambitious plot to rule all of Asia. Full of secret passages, coded messages, treasure maps, double-crosses, and death-defying escapes, Lang's pulpy action-fantasy borrows from the wacky serials of Louis Feuillaude (notably the deliriously entertaining Les Vampires). But behind the wild plots, gorgeous sets, and driving, breakneck-paced direction lies a dark undercurrent of death and doom that transforms his gallant hero into a brooding, vengeful spirit. The prints are seriously scratched and worn in places but always watchable. They have been appropriately tinted, and Gaylord Carter's organ score is upbeat and exciting. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

An ancient treasure?
The film: This Indiana Jones-type of movie put Fritz Lang on the map. It features the same mix of exotic locations and rollercoaster-action scenes like the Paramount-franchise from the 80ies. Alas, the film also shows that Fritz Lang had not yet reached the level of maturity and precision that is so prominetly featured in his later silent masterworks. Ok, the sets look great but the story is even more hokey than your usual adventure yarn. Even worse, the film features far too many of those scenes which are often done but work the least in a silent movie: shoot-outs. So I'm afraid I can recommend this film mostly to film-history-buffs (like me) or people that need all of Lang's films on their DVD-shelf. If you want to see why Lang is regarded as such a genius, you better check out "Die Nibelungen" or "Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler". The DVD: The film is very rare, and it shows: The people who restored it couldn't work with the best film-material but had to use what they got and so the print is quite scratchy and generally worn-out. But this is your only chance to see it, so let that not hinder you. Otherwise, besides some notes on the film-makers, there's not very much regarding extras on this DVD. One final, international note: It's a shame that this German film is not available at all in Germany, so congratulations to David and Kimberly Shepard who uncovered this long-believed lost film!

A silent adventure
Kay Hoog finds a message in a bottle floating near San Francisco. The message tells about a hidden Incan city filled with gold and gives the location for finding it. Intrigued, Kay tells his yacht club that he's going to find it. Later, Lia Sha, also a member of the club and the mysterious Spiders, steals the map and sets off for Peru, with Kay not far behind.

Thus, begins the Indiana Jones-like adventure which leads from Peru to a hidden city beneath San Francisco to a deadly cave in the Falkland Islands. "Spiders" from German director Fritz Lang, contains the first two parts of what was to be a 4-part serial. It's not the greatest of all adventure stories and has quite a few plot holes, but it's easy to see the influence it has on many of the adventure films of today. And, the acting is not bad, either.

The DVD transfers are scratchy but still very viewable. Not many extras, though.

Great Adventure, Poor DVD Package
Apparently there's no decent surviving prints of The Spiders so it would be difficult to determine just how successful the restoration was back in the 70s. I would dare say though, that a more modern digital restoration could be done today and think personally that this is a significant enough film to deserve the full digital restoration treatment. Be that as it may, the restoration is very watchable and the fact that the film had been found at all and fixed up by David and Kim Shepard is impressive.

I'm a fan of the early adventure pulps and of cliffhanger serials. So it was great to actually see Fritz Lang's early contribution towards these ends. The story has been gone over by several reviews and easily found online. I just want to urge viewers to not be put off on the fact that it is silent (with an original organ score that sometimes verges on cheesy Casio sounds, but tends to hold on to its dignity) because the great visuals Lang is famous for, and fun action adventure should be able to keep most audiences captivated.

If you are a fan of Gunga Din, Indiana Jones and the more exotic pulp adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Talbot Mundy, I can't imagine you will not find this to be a great treasure chest of iconic pulp and cliffhanger-type imagery.

The reason I don't give this five stars is solely based on the Image Entertainment release, because I think the price of this single DVD with no extras is exorbitant to say the least. Outside of the fact that this was a rare film to find and restore (which has nothing to do with Image themselves), the Criterion-esque price tag does not reflect any value-added properties as you would find on a Criterion release, and in fact is closer to something you'd find from Alpha Video, meaning extremely bare bones. At the very least, a commentary track by the Shepards or a film historian would have been interesting and added some extra value to justify $30 for a single disc.

It might be wishful thinking to get a better release anytime in the near future, so either do like me and take the hit to the wallet for the Image release from amazon or patiently search a less expensive means of finding it, like amazon's merchant-shops or other online auction sites, etc. Or if you don't mind VHS, that is easily found for under $5.