American Heritage Center Inventory for the Fritz Lang Papers

American Heritage Center
University of Wyoming

Inventory for the

Fritz Lang Papers

Guide to

Fritz Lang

Papers, ca. 1909-1973

(bulk 1931-1973)

5 cubic feet + motion picture films

Accession Number 7955

Prepared by Loreley Moore
June 2000

Contents

Subjects & Other Resources

Folder List

Introduction

The Fritz Lang Papers, 1909-1973, were given to the American Heritage Center by the Fritz Lang Estate (administered by Lily Latte) in three shipments in 1976. The papers were received in good order.

The collection should be cited as: Fritz Lang Papers, 1909-1973, Box Number, Folder Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/inventories/07955.htm

Biography

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) was an Austrian-American film director who began his film career as a scriptwriter. Many of the scripts he wrote in the 1920s were co-written by his wife, Theo Von Harbou. Lang fled Germany in 1933. By 1936 he was in Hollywood, where he directed films for twenty years, until his differences with producers led to his leaving Hollywood. He directed films in India until 1959 when he returned to Germany. In 1963 he portrayed himself in the French film “Mopris” which was directed by Jean-Luc Goddard.

His early films in America, as in “Fury” in 1936 and “You Only Live Once” in 1937, were about social injustice. He then directed westerns and psychological mysteries, including “The Woman at the Window” in 1944 and “Scarlet Street” in 1945. He later returned to the exposure of violence and corruption in “Big Heat” in 1953.

Although he was not honored by the American film establishment until a retrospective of his work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1969, France, Germany, Austria, and Yugoslavia gave him many awards for his contribution to film from the 1950s through the 1970s. He also received an award for his film “M” from the German Motion Picture Arts Association in 1931.

Series Description

The Fritz Lang Papers are arranged in four series:

Series I. General Files, 1909-1973, (1 ½ document boxes). Arranged alphabetically. Includes biographical information, research for films about the Taj Mahal and the American prison system, Navaho Male Shooting Chant, and People’s Songs bulletins.

Series II. Awards, 1931, 1957-1973, (1 ½ document box, 1 F22 Flat box, and 1 SHO box). Arranged chronologically when possible, depending upon the kind of box needed to house the size of the award. Includes awards from Austria, France, Germany, Yugoslavia, and the Festival of San Sebastian.

Series III. Books, 1909-1973 (3 document boxes, 1 slim document box). Arranged by Category. Inscribed to Fritz Lang, books upon which he based his films, and American song books.

Series IV. Motion Picture Film, 1938-1940s, 1953 (3 document boxes). Arranged alphabetically. 16 mm reels of the American Southwest and 1 reel of Fritz Lang.

Scope and Content

The papers of Fritz Lang contain very little material about his personal or professional life. The general files, 1933-1973, are few, and other than the biographical information, reflect Lang’s interests.

There is a rare Navaho Male Shooting Chant translation from an audio tape made in the 1930s. Lang was fascinated by the American Indian Culture and often lived on Indian reservations for weeks at a time.

Most of the general files are research material for a film about the Taj Mahal. They contain pamphlets, photographs, and outlines. There is a slim file about San Quentin Prison containing a prison concert program and an issue of the prison newspaper. There is an almost inclusive run of the People’s Songs Bulletin, 1946-1949. This bulletin was founded and administered by Pete Seeger to create, promote, and distribute songs of labor and the American people. The bulletin was sold only to members of the People’s Songs Association and was not in wide distribution. There is one piece of sheet music, “No Surrender,” from the movie “Hangmen Also Die,” directed by Fritz Lang.

There are 16 mm motion-picture reels, 1938-1953, filmed by Fritz Lang as he toured the Southwest. They are films of New Mexico, Arizona, and Indians. There is one reel of Fritz Lang. There are a few incidental books which were inscribed to Fritz Lang, some books upon which he based films, and American Songbooks of special interest.

Awards in 1931 and 1957-1973 were presented to Fritz Lang for excellence in film and contribution to the motion picture art. He was given the Commander Cross, Order of Merit in 1957 and 1966, and the Golden Ribbon of Motion Picture Arts in 1963 by the Federal Republic of Germany. He was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters from France in 1965, made an Honorary Professor of Fine Arts by the University of Vienna, Austria, in 1973, awarded the Order of the Yugoslavia Flag with a Golden Wreath in 1971, and was given a plaque from El Festival Internacional del Cine de San Sebastian in 1970. The Silver Hand was awarded to Fritz Lang in 1931 for his film “M” by the German Motion Picture Arts Association.

Subjects

The following terms were used in the online bibliographic MARC record to this collection available via the AHC's catalog. Users may also wish to visit the Fritz Lang Digital Collection.

Mogul empire
India History -- 1500-1765
Navajo Indians -- Rites and ceremonies
Hopi Indians
Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
Folk music -- Periodicals-- United States

Chelly, Canyon de (Ariz.)
Death Valley (Calif. and Nev.)
Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (Ariz.)
White Sands National Monument (N.M.)
Tombstone (Ariz.)

Motion pictures
Awards
Motion picture producers and directors

Folder List

Folder	Title	Date

Series I. General files, 1933-1973

Box 1
1	Biographical Information	1953-1973

2	Navaho Male Shooting Chant	ca 1939

3	People’s Songs Bulletins	1946-1949

4-6	Research for a Film about the Taj Mahal	1952-1960

Box 2
1-2	Research for a Film about the Taj Mahal	1956

3	Research on San Quentin Prison	1933-1936

4	Sheet Music “No Surrender” From the movie “Hangmen Also Die” by Fritz Lang	1943

Series II. Awards, 1931, 1957-1973

5	Commander Cross, Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany	1957

6	Golden Ribbon of the Motion Picture Arts from the Federal Republic of Germany	1963

Box 3
1	Order des Arts et Lettres from France	1965

2	Commander Cross, Order of Merit from the FederalRepublic of Germany	1966

3	El Festival Internacional del Cine de San Sebastian	1970

4	Honorary Professor of Fine Arts from the University of Vienna, Austria	1973
Box 4
1	Order of the Yugoslav Flag with a Golden Wreath	1971

Box 5
1	Zur-Erinnerung-An-Unsere Erste Zu Samnenarbeit S Nebenzahl (Silver Hand for the film “M”)	1931

Series III. Books, 1909-1973

Box 6	Films by Fritz Lang based upon:
1	Grey, Zane, Western Union	1939

2	Greene, Graham, The Ministry of Fear	1943

3	Household, Geoffrey, Man Hunt	1939

4	Household, Geoffrey, Rogue	1939

5	Wolfert, Ira, American Guerilla in the Philippines	1945

	Inscribed to Fritz Lang:
6	Bemelmans, Ludwig, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep	1943

7	Booth, Ernest, With Sirens Screaming	1945

Box 7
1	Caspury, Vera, The Husband	1957

2	Chatterton, Ruth, Homeward Borne	1950

3	Harvin, Emily, The Stubborn Wood	1948

4	Hollander, Frederick, Those Torn from the Earth	1941

5	Kakfa, John, The Apple Orchard	1947

6	Mooney, Martin, The Parole Scandal	1939

Box 8
1	Popper, David, The Puzzle Palestine	1938

2	Spies, Walter, and de Zoete, Beryl, Dance and Drama in Bali	1938

3	Twain, Mark, extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven	1909

4	Velikovsky, Immanuel, Oedipus and Akhnaton: Myth and History	1960

5	Weinberg, Herman, Saint Cinema: Writings on the Film 1929-1970, preface by Fritz Lang	1973

Box 9
1	Black, Eleanora, and Robertson, Sidney, “Gold Rush Songbook”	1940

2	Davis, Joe, “Songs of the Roaming Ranger”	1935

3	Gelhert, Lawrence, “Negro Songs of Protest”	1936

4-5	“Ballads, Carols, and Tragic Legends”	1937, 1938

6	“More Songs of the Hill Folk”	1936

7	“Songs of the Hill Folk”	1935

8	“Ten Christmas Carols”	1935

9	Palmer, Edgar A., “G.I. Songs Written, Composed and/or Collected by Men in the Service”	1944

10	Spaeth, Sigmund, “Barbershop Ballads and How to Sing Them”	1940

Series IV. Motion Picture Film, 1938-1953

Box 10
	Large Reels, 16 mm	1930s-1940

1	Betakin, 1 reel

2	Bryce Canyon, 1 reel

3	Cactus, Superstition Mountain, 1 reel

4	Canon de Chelly, 1 reel

5	Death Valley, 1 reel

6	Fritz Lang, 1 reel

Box 11
1	Hopi Villages, 1 reel

2	Location Shots, 1 reel

3	Missions, 1 reel

4	New Orleans, 1 reel

5	Sandpainting and Weaving, 1 reel

6	White Sands

Box 12	Small reels, 16mm
1	Black Road to Fort Defiance, 1 reel	1939

2-6	Cactus	1939-1941

7	Fata Morgana	1939

8	Hopi Village and Eagles, 1 reel	1939

9	Hubble with Judge, 1 reel	1939

10	Missions, 1 reel	1940s

11-12	Mother Dog and Pups, 2 reels	1941

13	On the Road, 1 reel	1939

14	Painted Desert, 1 reel	1938

15	Papago Indian Graveyard and Organ Pipe Cactus, 1 reel	1953

16-17	Petrified Blue Forest, 2 reels	1939

18	Petrified Blue Forest, Colorado River Bridge, 1 reel	1939

19	Rainbow Oil Fields, 1 reel	1940

20	Rodeo – Navaho close-up, 1 reel	1939

21	Southwest Scenes, 1 reel	1940s

22	Tombstone, 1 reel	1940s

23	White Sands after Sunset, 1 reel	1939

American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3924, Laramie, WY 82071. Phone: 307.766.4114, Fax: 307.766.5511, E-mail: shelstad@uwyo.edu. Copyright © University of Wyoming, 2002 . Created on January 17, 2002. Last modified on February 24, 2002.

American Heritage Center University of Wyoming

Inventory for the

Fritz Lang Papers

American Heritage Center
University of Wyoming