The Spiders - Episode 2: The Diamond Ship

As with many serials, the end may just be the beginning. See part two "The Diamond Ship".

In part, two Kay Hoog who previously captured the secret of the Diamond Ship from the mysterious cabal "The spiders" has sworn revenge on Lio Sha for transgressions made in part one.

While the Spiders seek a diamond-shaped while the head of Buddha for their nefarious purposes. Kay seeks to spoil their plot. Again we get to go to exotic places leading to the Falkland Islands. Fortunately this time enough loose ends are sufficiently wrapped up so we do not have to wait for part three (which will never come.)

Die Spinnen 2.Teil:Das Brillantenschiff/Spiders part 2:The Diamond Ship(1920) is an entertaining sequel with much intrigue, suspense, and cliff hangers. I enjoyed this movie more than Part One because of the climatic confrontation between the hero of the film and Lio Sha. Lio Sha is a villain much like the famous Irma Vep of Les Vampires. Fritz Lang was still developing his style when he directed Spider Part(1920) so the genius of Lang is not evident yet. Another film that is a collector's item for fans of Fritz Lang and old silent pictures. Precusor to the director's Dr. Mabuse films and his World War 2 themed features.

This episode is a worthy continuation in the series. As in the first part there is a lot of action. The search is on for the Buddha shaped diamond. This is the sort of film that inspired Raiders of the Lost Ark.

This second part of Fritz Lang's "The Spiders" is a solid follow-up to the first part. This segment is not quite up to the level of the opening episode, but it is also entertaining, and it features some new and interesting material. As with the first part, the story has many far-fetched elements, and neither the plot nor the characters should be taken too seriously.

This part opens with a somber, determined Hoog determined to bring down Lio Sha and "The Spiders", and it then proceeds through a variety of adventures as the adversaries continue trying to outwit each other. Some of the settings are again imaginative and interesting, particularly the underground Chinese city, and these are the main strength of the movie.

Ressel Orla is again good as the villainness, but this time the story does not give her quite as many opportunities. Carl de Vogt has to carry more of the load this time, and while he is adequate in the action scenes, he does not have enough charisma to get the most out of the material. There was an opportunity for some real sparks between him and Orla, but they don't materialize.

Several of the sequences are quite good in themselves, and there is again lots of action. This story of "The Diamond Ship" does not fit together quite as tightly as did the first story of "The Golden Sea", and that, plus the absence of Lil Dagover, are the main things that make this one a cut below the first episode. It's still worth seeing, though.

Well, well... Here's part two of Lang's trivial adventure hokum and as it is evident from the start that it's even weaker than its predecessor, one's glad that this Feuillade wannabe wasn't fully realized.

The succession of hair-raising stunts and long dull sequences of hollow travesty is almost hypnotic in its banality. But even as pure entertainment, the pic's a misfire.

But no worries: Just a few years later, Lang would strike cinematic gold one movie after another. (He could never fully shake off the pulp roots of this early work, though.)

3 out of 10 Buddha diamonds