© 2012 William Ahearn
Fritz Lang’s first — or at least first surviving — real crime film and another lost film rediscovered in Brazil —presumably around the same time as “Das wandernde Bild.” Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou and based on Rolf E. Vanloo’s play Florence oder Die Drei bei der Frau, its story is somewhat incoherent due to missing pieces although what remains presents a clear picture of Lang’s intentions. Of all the rediscovered films, “Vier um die Frau” is the one early film that would be identifiable as a Lang film to modern audiences.
When discussing Fritz Lang, one of the questions that always arise is what role did Thea von Harbou play in Lang’s career and that discussion usually begins with “Der müde Tod” because “Das wandernde Bild” and “Vier um die Frau” had been lost for decades and most of Lang’s biographers never saw it. This is their second collaboration and now that it has been rediscovered, maybe a clearer picture will emerge. Critics knew Thea von Harbou (notice the reference to her in the review of “Das wandernde Bild”) at the time as she had numerous stories and novels published and had scripted “Die Legende von der heiligen Simplicia” and “Frauen vom Gnadenstein” for Joe May. As noted earlier, Lang had written numerous films and both surviving “Der Spinnen” films before meeting Thea von Harbou. With the exception of “Der Spinnen” films, most of this material is either lost or unavailable so the usual parlor game of deducting who-did-what isn’t on the table.
There are several plot recaps of “Vier um die Frau” (aka “Four Around A Woman”) at various film-related websites. Ott presents a summation based on contemporary reviews and Eisner quotes a review from Lichtbild-Bühne:
“The dealer Yquem buys his adored wife a precious piece of jewelry with forged money, in a place where thieves and receivers of stolen goods meet, and whither he goes disguised. There he finds a gentleman who looks exactly like a portrait he once found among his wife’s possessions. He follows him to an elegant hotel, where he leaves a letter, in a faked handwriting, inviting the man to come to his house. William Krafft also turns up. Then, for a few hours of the night, Yquem’s house becomes the scene of a series of violent acts and crimes in quick succession. Florence is revealed to be innocent; Yquem’s friend turns out to be a common criminal and is shot. The gentleman con-man William Krafft is arrested, and Yquem is punished for his misguided deeds . . .”
Film und Presse noted:
“The core of the complicated plot is the struggle of four men for one woman. Chance, kismet and mysterious darkness, heightened by a doppelgänger. Final exposure of the evil principle and victory of the good.”
Eisner — who never saw the film and neither did Ott — notes, “little of real importance can be divined from these naïve reviews.” The film — or what’s left of it — can now be seen and it adds a lot to understanding Lang’s progression.
Several aspects are interesting about this film — check out that opening shot — and the use of close-ups and the use of contrast are immediately apparent. That contrast is most notable when used to define the riff-raff and the elite as in the rough-hewn furniture and cluttered rooms of the lumpen and the slick and modern look of the other half as will reappear in “Metropolis” and other films. Lang has never used as many close-ups or had them as close as they are in this film. More than allowing characters their moments, the close-ups visually break up the film to allow for pacing and dramatic effect.
This is the place of “suffocating enclosures” mentioned by McGilligan and the tightness of many of the shots seems to be Lang finding a way to bring the characters closer while still maintaining an acceptable composition. Tom Gunning makes a case in The Films of Fritz Lang that “The Spiders: The Diamond Ship” is Lang’s first foray into “modern” films although that film is still steeped in trap doors and underground cities and other elements of the pulps and serials while “Vier um die Frau” — even with its incomplete and incoherent plot — is a straight-ahead drama without any of the “sensations” of “The Diamond Ship.”
This the only film that Fritz Lang made in Germany that a character expresses any form of personal guilt, in the scene where the wife says, “I feel my conscience filled with guilt! I deserve this!” Whether it was part of the dialog from the original play, isn’t clear. What is clear is that among the future characters in Lang’s films, the child killers, the master criminals, the spies and the murder and mayhem of mythological figures, it is only a regretful wife that shows any remorse at all.
“Vier um die Frau” (aka “Four Around A Woman”) produced by Erich Pommer for Decla-Bioscop. Directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and Thea von Harbou based on Rolf E. Vanloo’s play Florence oder Die Drei bei der Frau. Cinematography by Otto Kanturek. Art Direction by Ernest Meiwers and Hans Jacoby. Starring Ludwig Hartau, Hermann Böttcher, Anton Edthofer, Carola Trölle, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, and Anton Edthofer, among others. The fully restored version runs 80 minutes. Original runtime is unknown.