The Spiders (film)

For other uses, see Spider (disambiguation).

The Spiders (Die Spinnen)
Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Erich Pommer
Written by	Fritz Lang
Starring	Carl de Vogt Ressel Orla Georg John Lil Dagover
Cinematography	Karl Freund
Distributed by	Decla-Bioscop AG
Release date(s)	3 October 1919 (Part I) 2 February 1920 (Part II)
Running time	137 min
Country	Germany
Language	Silent film German intertitles

The Spiders (German: Die Spinnen) is a adventure film directed by Fritz Lang. It was released in two parts in 1919 and 1920.

Synopsis

In San Francisco, well-known sportsman Kay Hoog announces to a club that he has found a message in a bottle with a map drawn by a Harvard professor who has gone missing. The map tells of a lost Incan civilization that possesses an immense treasure. Hoog immediately plans an expedition to find it. But Lio Sha, the head of a criminal organization known as the Spiders, is determined to get the treasure for herself and plans a rival expedition.

Production notes

Fritz Lang was early in his directorial career when he accepted an assignment to direct what was to be a mystery-action serial comprising four feature-length episodes. Lang was forced by this assignment to relinquish the directorial duties of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was also released by the distributor Decla-Bioscop AG in 1919.^[1] Lang completed two episodes before the project was cut short by the films’ producer. Part one was released as The Golden Lake (Die Spinnen, 1. Teil: Der Goldene See) and part two as The Diamond Ship (Die Spinnen, 2. Teil: Das Brillantenschiff).

Restoration

The Spiders was considered a lost film for many years before an original print was discovered in the 1970s. This surviving print was used for a restoration of the film completed in 1978.^[2]. The restored version appears to be missing a small amount of the original footage. This version was released on DVD in 1999.

References

1. ^ Peary, Danny (1988). Cult Movies 3. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.. pp. 48–51. ISBN 0-671-64810-1. 
2. ^ The Spiders at silentera.com

See also

• List of rediscovered films

External links

• Die Spinnen, 1. Teil - Der Goldene See at the Internet Movie Database
• Die Spinnen, 2. Teil - Das Brillantenschiff at the Internet Movie Database
• The Spiders at Silentera.com