Conversation with Fritz Lang

A record of William Friedkin's conversation with Fritz Lang. Lang is in his eighties by this point, living in California and almost entirely blind. Friedkin is at the height of his career, a director who has just made The French Connection and The Exorcist. The conversation moves through Lang's life in order: the German period, Doctor Mabuse, Metropolis, M, the Nazis coming to power and the departure for America. Lang tells the famous story of the propaganda minister's offer here too. Part of the record's value is that what is said is disputed. Lang told his own life in a particular shape for years, and some details were later questioned by researchers. So the film is both a testimony and a record of how a director builds his own legend. Friedkin asks not as an admirer but as a colleague, and presses on technical matters. Lang died in 1976, not long after this conversation. A valuable document for anyone interested in film history and directors in conversation. For a viewer expecting fiction, this is not a film; it consists of two people sitting and talking.