''The Spiders'' (german: Die Spinnen) is a German silent two-part

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

written and directed by

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

. It was released in two parts in 1919 and 1920. Two more parts were originally planned but never made. It was believed to be a lost film, but it has been rediscovered and restored.

Plot

:Part 1. ''Der goldene See'' ("The Golden Lake"): In

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, well-known sportsman, adventurer and traveller Kay Hoog announces to his club that he has found a message in a bottle with a map drawn by a Harvard professor who has gone missing. The message tells of a lost

Incan The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

civilization that possesses an immense treasure. Hoog starts an expedition to find the treasure, while the crime syndicate "Die Spinnen" sends out a rival expedition led by the beautiful but dangerous Lio Sha. At the Golden Lake, Hoog saves the Inca priestess Naela and falls in love with her. He takes her home with him after discovering a mysterious clue about a diamond ship. Back in San Francisco, Lio Sha declares her love for Hoog but he rejects her in favour of Naela. Lio Sha has Naela murdered and Kay Hoog swears revenge. :Part 2. ''Das Brillantenschiff'' ("The Diamond Ship"): The search is on for a Buddha-head shaped diamond that has special powers. Carried in the hands of 'a princess' it will bestow the power to rule Asia. In San Francisco, Hoog discovers a hidden city underneath Chinatown but he is found out and taken prisoner. Eventually the hunt brings Kay Hoog to England, where the Spiders kidnap Ellen, daughter of diamond king Terry whom they suspect of owning the stone. When Kay Hoog arrives on the scene, he and Terry discover (with the help of an ancient log book) that Terry's pirate ancestor concealed a map in a painting. Hoog follows the map to the Falkland Islands to find the diamond, but Fourfinger-John, who has spied on Terry and Hoog, manages to inform the Spiders by carrier pigeon. Lio Sha and her henchmen catch up with Hoog in the cave where the pirate treasure is hidden and take him prisoner. However, poisonous fumes from a volcano enter the cave and all the criminals die. Only Kay Hoog manages to escape with the stone. Back in England, he works with the police and Terry to free Ellen from the clutches of the Spiders' hypnotist master.

Cast

;Part 1 *

Carl de Vogt Carl de Vogt (14 September 1885 – 16 February 1970) was a German film actor who starred in four of Fritz Lang's early films. He attended the acting school in Cologne, Germany. Together with acting he was also active as a singer and recorded sev ...

as Kay Hoog *

Lil Dagover Lil Dagover (; born Marie Antonia Siegelinde Martha Seubert; 30 September 1887 – 23 January 1980) was a German actress whose film career spanned between 1913 and 1979. She was one of the most popular and recognized film actresses in the Weimar ...

as Sun Priestess Naela *

Ressel Orla Ressel Orla (born Theres Anna Ochs; 18 May 1889 – 23 July 1931) was an Austrian stage and film actress. She appeared in some of Fritz Lang's earliest films. Selected filmography * '' The Firm Gets Married'' (1914) * '' The Queen's Secretary'' ...

as Lio Sha *

Georg John Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor. Early life Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany. Career John began his ...

as Dr. Telphas *

Rudolf Lettinger Rudolf Lettinger (26 October 1865 in Hamburg – 21 March 1937 in Berlin-Schöneberg) was a German stage and film actor. He made his stage debut in 1883 when he played the role of Kosinsky in Friedrich Schiller's drama ''The Robbers''. Some of ...

as diamond king John Terry * as Fourfinger-John * Paul Morgan as diamond expert * Meinhardt Maur as book worm *

Friedrich Kühne Friedrich Kühne (24 April 1870 – 13 October 1959), born Franz Michna, was a German film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1913 and 1957. Selected filmography * ''The Iron Cross'' (1914) * ''Detektiv Br ...

;Part 2 *

as Kay Hoog *

as Lio Sha *

Reiner Steiner Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional character in the anime/manga series '' Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Reiner Knizia, a board game designer *R ...

as captain of the diamond ship *

as Dr. Telphas *

as diamond king John Terry *

Thea Zander Thea may refer to: * Thea (name), a given name * Ancient Greek term for goddess, including an alternative spelling of Theia * ''Thea'', the former name of the tea plant genus, now included in ''Camellia'' * Thea, a village in the municipal unit Mes ...

as Ellen Terry *

as Yogi All-hab-mah * as Fourfinger-John * Meinhardt Maur as Chinese * Paul Morgan as Jew

Production

Fritz Lang was early in his directorial career when he accepted an assignment to direct what was to be a mystery-action film series comprising four feature-length episodes. Lang was forced by this assignment to relinquish the directorial duties of ''

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (german: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, ...

'', which was also released by the distributor Decla-Bioscop AG in 1919. Filming took place from June to August 1919 in Hamburg at

Tierpark Hagenbeck The Tierpark Hagenbeck is a zoo in Stellingen, Hamburg, Germany. The collection began in 1863 with animals that belonged to Carl Hagenbeck Sr. (1810–1887), a fishmonger who became an amateur animal collector. The park itself was founded by Ca ...

for part 1. Part 2 was shot October to December 1919 in Hamburg (Tierpark Hagenbeck and others) and at the

Weissensee Studios The Weissensee Studios (german: Filmstadt Weißensee) was a collection of separate film production studios located in the Berlin suburb of Weissensee (Berlin), Weißensee during the silent era. History The two main studios comprising the comple ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Lang completed two episodes before the project was cut short by the films’ producer. Part 1 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''). Part 1 premiered on 3 October 1919 at the Richard-Oswald-Lichtspiele in Berlin, Max Josef Bojakowski was the conductor. Part 2 premiered on 6 February 1920 at Theater am Moritzplatz, Berlin. Planned, but not produced (working titles): :Part 3. ''Um Asiens Kaiserkrone'' ("To Asia's Imperial Crown") :Part 4. ''Im Spinnennetz'' ("In the Spider Web")

Restoration

''The Spiders'' was considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

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.''The Spiders'' at silentera.com
/ref> The restored version appears to be missing a small amount of the original footage. This version was released on DVD in 1999 and Blu-ray in 2016. The three year reconstruction was done by film historians David and Kimberly Shepard, with music scored by

Gaylord Carter Gaylord Carter (August 3, 1905 – November 20, 2000) was an American organist and the composer of many film scores that were added to silent movies released on video tape or disks. He died from Parkinson disease. Early life and musical begin ...

. The source material was a 35mm duplicate negative from Czechoslovakia; the

nitrate print Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insoluble ...

had several defects that could not be taken out, was out of sequence and didn't have

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s. The intertitles were obtained from German censor records. The film was tinted according to instructions by Fritz Lang, who was still living at the time.

References

External links