One of the most esteemed Fritz Lang movies is Metropolis, a rare silent sci-fi classic. Unfortunately, he didn't stick with the genre much (the Dr. Mabuse series is better described as fantasy in my book), but his wife, Thea von Harbou, had another sf story in her. It would not be a longer version of Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon, because Lang prefers dark to fanciful.
IMDb says it runs 95 minutes, but that's only for the U.S. theater cut; the one I received runs 209 minutes. I suspect that the cut parts were mostly in the first half, before the journey to the moon even begins. That part is dominated by a question of who exactly will go. Old, largely discredited Professor Mannfeldt will, because it was his idea to search for gold in lunar mountains. Entrepreneur Helius, arguably the protagonist, is the first volunteer. His assistant and crush, Friede, won't brook his objections to her coming along, and her new fiance, fellow assistant Windegger, would hate to have them leave without him. Then there's Turner, a suave gangster (there's the Lang I know) who coerces his way into the mission so his gang can claim the gold. Only after launch do they learn of the sixth passenger, preteen stowaway Gustav, whose ideas of the moon and space come from magazines.
You're probably wondering how "right" those mags are. Well, this isn't too bad a depiction for the time. At least we don't see any indigenous life forms, tho we do get small geysers in apparent mud holes. And while this moon does have oxygen, the astronauts didn't know for sure before they checked by lighting matches. The one factor that really has me shaking my head is the apparently successful use of a divining rod.
The space travel is especially impressive, to the point that Nazis later suppressed the film in order not to give their enemies ideas. The rocket has two stages, runs on liquid fuel, and even features the first countdown on film or in RL. At some point, the crew deals with weightlessness, making the best of available effects. (We see no sign of lower gravity on the moon, tho.) The rocket travels at less than half the speed of a modern space shuttle, but it might be adequate. Characters don't kid themselves that it won't be dangerous; a previous attempt reportedly left a lunar crater with no survivors. My main concern is that the launch from Earth starts with the rocket half submerged in water; wouldn't that make it harder?
We get a few conflicts in play before and/or after arrival. Mannfeldt is a bit too, well, over the moon about the whole thing and doesn't care to work with the others. It goes without saying that Turner can't be trusted. Less predictable is Windegger having belated second thoughts about the whole expedition and wanting to go home as soon as possible, even if it means betraying the others. I'm not sure when he becomes aware of Helius' feelings for Friede, but it's clear that the ending won't be fully happy.
These plot points may still not sound like enough to fill more than three hours, but the film makes do. In fact, I had a lot more patience for it than I had for the 13-minute ATttM. Lang knows how to milk drama, and the more extreme characters are fun to watch in themselves.
WitM (whose title almost gives too much away) does remind me of Metropolis insofar as it is both ahead of its time and amusingly dated. Also pretty artistic, including the on-screen text. This ought to give you a good sense of whether it'll be worth your time.
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