SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Devin Bell Fritz Lang is one of my favorite directors and ''Metropolis'' is my favorite film. I love ''Woman in the Moon'', ''M'', and ''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse''. ''Spies'', sadly, is incredibly average. Don't get me wrong, this film has great moments. The opening is thrilling. The train scene is suspenseful. And the last 10 minutes are really good. Everything in between is uninteresting and drawn out. I got bored a lot (this is coming from somebody who loves 2001: A Space Odyssey) and found myself looking at the time displeased. I usually despise when studios cut films (Metropolis), but Paramount was smart in cutting this from 130 minutes to 90 minutes. I got the pleasure of seeing an original Paramount copy at the Denver Silent Film Festival and found myself enjoying Spies much more. In conclusion, ''Spies'' has some standout sequences, but is a major step down from ''Metropolis''

morrison-dylan-fan Shortly after finding out about the excellent UK DVD company Masters of Cinema,I discovered that they had put a rarely mentioned title from auteur film maker Fritz Lang out in an uncut version.Searching round,I was disappointed to find that the DVD was out of print,and going for silly money.Finally tracking down the DVD,the films 2 and a half running time led to me finding it difficult to grab the "perfect" moment and watch it in one go.with a poll being held on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best movies of 1928,I decided that it was time to finally go spying with Fritz Lang.The plot:Leaning that agent 326 has been sent to track him down,evil mastermind Haghi sends Sonja to learn about 326's activates.Meeting 326,Sonja finds herself soon forgetting Haghi's orders and falling in love with 326.As Sonja tries to keep her new lover safe,Haghi learns about an important Japanese treaty getting signed in a few days time.Taking advantage of Lady Leslane being an opium addict,Haghi gets Leslane to reveal everything that her husband knows about the signing of the treaty.As Haghi sets his sights on stopping the treaty in its tracks,agent 326 discovers that Sonja is not all she appears to be. View on the film:Before I get to the movie,I have to mention that Masters of Cinema have given the title a wonderful image,with the newly done original cut having a surprisingly clear picture for its age,with Masters sticking to Lang's final cut,by even including the original inter-titles.Restrained from splashing out after almost making the studio go bust over Metropolis,co-writer/(along with the soon to be ex-Mrs Lang Thea von Harbou)directing auteur Fritz Lang gives the title an elegantly stylised appearance.Giving Haghi his own evil lair,Lang and cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner dip the movie into Sci-Fi,as Haghi delivers his commands by pressing brightly lit buttons.Keeping the Sci-Fi mood locked in Haghi's lair,Lang gives his spies a marvellous Film Noir playground,with the mistrust that the spies have for each other,being subtly expressed by casting them against deep low-lighting,which are lit-up by sharp hits of rain.Slowly revealing the danger that the spies are caught in,Lang hits the action scenes with an explosive energy,by covering them in tightly- held close ups which drive a deep sense of on the edge tension into the title.Filmed as Germany was sinking deep in inflation, the screenplay by Lang & Thea von Harbou takes a ruthless allegorical dissecting of the Weimar Republic,by making Haghi a "respected" bank director who uses cold hard cash to get his way,whilst the spies are dehumanised by their names being replaced by numbers,which the agency register in mug shot books in order to keep tabs on them.Along with the allegorical elements,Lang & Harbou also deliver a paranoid fuelled Film Noir.Taking the risqué Pre-Code-style route of making Lady Leslane an opium addict,the writers reveal that along with his hands of cash that Haghi is also a master at taking advantage of peoples weaknesses,which along with agent 326 taking the espionage in a gripping international direction,sets the stage for a spione curtain call.

kidboots I first saw this movie many years ago, completely unrestored and in a severely edited version but I was still carried away by the breath taking style and the twists and turns of the plot about a super spy who wanted world domination. So I was very happy to find this Kino edition with an hour of previously unseen footage. Like Lang's earlier film, "Dr. Mabuse", Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge) is a master criminal extraordinare who leads several different lives - as a bank president and also as a circus clown. He is always one step ahead of the Russian, Japanese and German secret service, steals treaties and operates a radio network that brings him up to date headlines through a transmitter in his office. He has men working for him day and night, including a fruit vendor who stealthily parks his wagon in the street, cutting off a car chase and starts throwing cocoanuts which are really hand grenades."Throughout the world strange events transpire".... It is the world of spies and secret agents and disappearing ink and once again Lang holds up to ridicule the pompous bureaucrats and petty officials. A local vagrant has received a summons to appear before the local police. Willy Fritsch's introduction is a marvel of pantomimic acting but after being hustled into the station we find that he is really "No. 326" - one of the country's sharpest agents. He is put on the trail of Haghi and Haghi, in turn, puts one of his most beautiful operatives, Sonia (Gerda Maurus) in his way to seduce him. It is love at first sight (a bizarre date has them at a boxing match which also doubles as a nightclub, when the match is finished patrons instantly start dancing around the ring). When Haghi finds Sonia questioning her loyalty he captures and imprisons her at headquarters then sends another look alike agent, Kitty (Lien Deyers) out in her place. It is Kitty's job to charm the Japanese diplomat (Lupu Pick) and she does, appearing at first as a waif caught in the rain, then gradually insinuating herself into his life - until she has all the secret documents and his only recourse is to commit hari-kari.The last thirty minutes starts with an explosive train crash - both Sonia (who is on one last mission - Haghi says if she will fulfill it he will spare "No. 326"'s life, but of course he is lying) and "No. 326" are aboard. From then on there is a non stop last minute rescue and then on to the music hall for a final showdown.Rudolph Klein-Rogge was a master character actor but because most of the time Haghi was behind a desk, he didn't have a lot to do. Willy Fritsch went on to become Germany's (and Hitler's) number one actor, more at home in frothy, frivolous musicals. Lien Deyer was a discovery of Lang's and "Spies" was her first film. She and her husband fled to America during the upheaval of Germany in the 1930s but after that nothing much went right for her.

wvisser-leusden Having been molded for a lifetime with James Bond as the ultimate movie-spy, it takes a little effort to appreciate Fritz Lang's very good 'Spione' (= German for 'spies').Another step to take is acknowledging the level of technical advancement from the late 1920-s. For instance, watching a high-pressure scene about sending an urgent telegram doesn't make sense anymore in our age of email & internet.After having settled yourself in the right mood, time has come to appreciate this film. Excellent acting, to start with. A story that keeps you interested until its very unexpected end. All decors and scenarios are in very good style and taste.In 'Spione' the style of the short-lived German 'Weimar'-republic emerges unmistakeably. It is a great and very recognizable style, shaped by the unstable politics of its times. A style marked by fresh memories of a terrible world war, as well as by the fear for the future.Although in 1928, the year this film was made, the 'Weimar'-republic boomed, Adolf Hitler was only five years away.