Compared to masterpieces made directly before & after (SPIES/’28; M/’31), this Sci-Fi epic from director Fritz Lang and writer/wife Thea von Harbou is mere curiosity. And if the mid-section covering a jet-propelled mission to the moon has technical interest (in ideas of the day and in seeing how they brought it off), the story & characters that go with the visual legerdemain are too ridiculous to hold much interest. Harbou’s cockamamie (Space)Ship of Fools follows an elderly professor who believes the far side of the moon has both breathable atmosphere and caverns of gold. (No doubt, green cheese lies on the other side.) So off he goes (the guy must be nearing 70), along with the gallant Captain, his engineer, the woman they both love who is documenting the voyage; as well as a sinister representative of the mission financiers* and a stowaway boy. Alas, German Expressionistic acting styles butt heads with any attempt at believable Science Fiction elements, and while Lang’s penchant for detail works well in flight, it stops momentum elsewhere. (Note that indie animation legend Oskar Fischinger is listed as one of the cinematographers and apparently handled some of the decidedly clever space flight effects.) There’s good pseudo-scientific fun in here, and is obviously a must for Langians; for others, caveat cinemaniacs.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, the seriously underrated SPIES or M.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Fritz Rasp’s villain by far the most memorable character. Watch him put his Hitler-esque hair-cut back in place after it’s disheveled by severe ‘G forces’ during takeoff.
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