One of the most influenctal aesthetic directors of all time, German-turned American director Fritz Lang, began his long, storied career in 1919. The Austrian-born film director had very little experience in cinema when he was hired first as a writer, then as a director at Germany's Decia Film. Its president, Erich Pommer must have seen promise in the 29-year-old World War One veteran since he gave him total control of an ambitiously planned four part serial titled "The Spiders." Lang wrote and directed his earliest existing film, October 1919's "The Spiders: Part 1: The Golden Sea." The opener was a hit, but the second part,"The Diamond Ship," released in February 1920, didn't quite live up to billing because of its complex plot. The series was abruptly terminated. But that didn't stop Lang from going on to have one of the most successful directorships in cinematic history, extending until 1960.
As a young man, Lang did have an artistic eye, where he switched from an engineering major in a Vienna university to an art degree. He volunteered in the Austrian army during the war, and was wounded four times, losing sight in his right eye in the process. Lang took up theater acting briefly after the war and submitted some scripts that he composed while convalescing in the hospital to Decia Film Studios. One of his scripts, titled 'Halbblut' (Half-Blood), was accepted along with a director's position. After his second film, Lang was offered to direct a movie called 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." But he opted out of that assignment to write and direct an adventure thriller serial, "The Spiders." Lang, who later showed a propensity for action-packed films, chomped at the bit for an 'Indiana Jones' type of serial.
"The Spiders" is a fictitious criminal organization headed by gorgeous, but dangerous, Lio Shia. In both episodes she hears of adventurer Kay Hoog pursuing ancient riches. For Episode 1, both chase after an Aztec treasure after Hoog finds a message in a bottle from a Harvard professor claiming he's held hostage by the Indians, who he says possess an immense trove of gold. Lang, whose spatial appreciation of scenery will be noted later in his career, shows his familiarity to big set framing in the Aztec sacrificial and battle sequences.
Later called the 'Master of Darkness,' Lang's "The Spider" films contain very little of his later German Expressionistic trademark lighting and design sets. But he's clearly comfortable in camera placements and editing continuity in only his third directing assignment, which is especially noticed in his more complex second episode of "The Spiders.
