Woman In The Moon underrated?

[seaquest]

I've put off watching Woman In The Moon for years due to mediocre reviews. Upon finally watching it today, I found the film to be much better that I had expected. Granted, it's no Metropolis, but I feel it deserves far more credit as one of Lang's masterpieces, not just swept to the side as it often is. Perhaps it deserves more limelight than it gets..... Any thoughts of comments?

[boblipton]

Why would you pay attention to reviews? Even if they are "right" in some objective fashion, your pleasure in watching a film is a subjective reaction.

Bob

[Christopher Jacobs]

The first time I saw WOMAN IN THE MOON, in its older edition of the American release, I thought it was interesting but a bit tedious. When I saw the restored version, it was much longer but the additional plot and character development made it much more engrossing to watch despite the extra length. The improved picture quality helped quite a bit as well. It's not my favorite Lang, but I do like it much more now than I used to.

[entredeuxguerres]

Why would you pay attention to reviews?

Except to gasp, all too often, at the ignorance of the reviewer.

No great favorite of mine, but (with Kino's score) entertaining enough to watch a couple of times.

[Big Silent Fan]

I've put off watching Woman In The Moon for years due to mediocre reviews. Upon finally watching it today, I found the film to be much better that I had expected. Granted, it's no Metropolis, but I feel it deserves far more credit as one of Lang's masterpieces, not just swept to the side as it often is. Perhaps it deserves more limelight than it gets..... Any thoughts of comments?

Coincidentally, I watched "Woman on the Moon" today as well.
I love and hate this film. On the plus side, it contains an incredible look at what's become common place today (the recent Shuttle missions). I'm thrilled every time I see the final stage separation as the capsule continues on towards the moon. The detail of the foot and hand straps within the space ship are exactly what was used inside of the Space Shuttle. The miniatures, mixed with life sized machinery and workers in a factory added to the thrilling launch sequence. But at nearly three hours, it was also far too tedious, unless the intent was to make you feel as if you were actually in the stands, awaiting a real lunch which would be even longer I suppose. I had to pause it and walk away several times when I first watched this.
Another complaint is that this serious attempt at science fiction quickly turns into a total farce. For the longest time, the film follows the little professor as he's seen running around on the Moon's surface with a silly forked branch divining rod? Now...why did he do that in such a magnificent epic?

[Micromegas]

I first started to appreciate Woman in The Moon when I read the novel and found out more about the full story line.

The truncated version didn't do it justice and I was pleased when the full film was made available to the public.

It is not Metropolis but it is a bit under-rated imho.

Steve

[Jeff Rapsis]

Underrated? Yes! I think 'Woman in the Moon' is one of the most mind-blowing silent films ever produced. But it's turned out to be the Rodney Dangerfield of Lang's late silents: time and time again, it just don't get no respect.

The brilliance of its predecessor, 'Metropolis,' is one reason it never got the attention it deserved; also, 'Woman in the Moon' came at the very end of the silent era, which limited its popular success. It was later supressed by the Nazis because of its detailed depiction of state-of-the-art German rocket technology. And then, after World War II, the truncated versions that circulated were a shadow of Lang's original conception. So over the years, the film really got a raw deal.

I knew none of this when I first encountered the film a few years ago via the Kino release with the score by Jon Mirsalis. It's the whole film, nearly three hours long, as Lang envisioned it, in razor sharp black & white, and I could not believe what I was seeing. To me, it was a wonderously strange past-envisions-the-future tale that I found tremendously exciting as a story and as a movie. And Jon's music was absolutely just right to help sustain a sense of wonder and incredulity, both at the images of rocket travel and at the idea that such a film could be produced in the first place.

My response was purely idiosyncratic, I thought. I'm a sucker for melodramatic cartoon-like space adventures, and 'Woman in the Moon' is filled with such stuff. Still, I wondered why this movie wasn't more widely known. This led me to the film's back story, which I found equally amazing: that Lang worked with pioneers of German rocketry whose work would later be hijacked by Hitler for military purposes. After World War II, some of the same scientists would go on to work on the U.S. Apollo moon program, which is why the process of reaching the lunar surface as depicted in the movie was so similar to what actually took place four decades later.

Still, I was curious about how 'Woman in the Moon' would fare under what I consider the acid test for any silent film: at a screening with live music and a live audience. Musically, I didn't feel I was ready to tackle it until this year, when we ran 'Woman in the Moon' as the New Year's Eve silent film at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., with live music by yours truly on the digital synthesizer. (We billed it as a chance to see the future as envisioned by the past.)

I'm pleased to report that a packed house greeted Lang's film with tremendous enthusiasm. Reaction was strong throughout, and especially so once the moon voyage got underway. People stayed with the story for the film's entire length, and our audience (mostly silent film newbies) seemed to regard the improbable antics on the lunar surface as just part of an extended fantasy. Also, there's a lot of intentional humor in the film, and I was impressed at how our audience responded to that—they really got it, especially the interplay of characters on the lunar ship. Lang's balance of serious and comic was really, really successful.

In short, the film worked, which raised its status even higher, in my estimation. If you're not familiar with 'Woman in the Moon,' I suggest checking it out as an under-rated film worth rediscovery. With its sci-fi and espionage elements, it's almost like a cross between 'Metropolis' (1927) and Lang's other late silent, 'Spies' (1928), another flick worth a second look as well. And if you ever get a chance to see 'Woman in the Moon' in a theater with an audience, it's not to be missed.

The film was ALMOST part of this year's annual Boston Sci-Fi Marathon in February, but it got pulled at the last minute for another title. Oh well. There's always next year! And if you're going to experience 'Woman in the Moon,' I can't think of better circumstances than 500 sci-fi geeks cooped up in a theater for 24 hours.

[Arndt]

Also it has Gerda Maurus. I really like Gerda Maurus. She is as good here as she is in SPIONE. And if you get a chance to see HOCHVERRAT, another of her too few film appearances, do not let it pass you by.

[Jim Roots]

What did Lang himself think of it?

Jim

[Nosferatu]

For me this is the movie when Lang took two of his fetishes too far. His love for little boys and women dressed as men. It was not too bad in Spies, which was a great movie. Also, the movie and plot was not epic feeling to me like his other films and there wa a failure to make me care for the characters.

[sc1957]

But hey... it stars Josephine the Maus. How can you top that?

This thread made me get the film out again for another viewing, so thanks. Soon to come, Spione.

[Connoisseur]

I agree that this is less horrible than 'Metropolis', but Lang in silents is generally overrated - with the exception of "Der müde Tod", as is Murnau (with the exception of "Nosferatu"). But Murnau was the better director, no denial.

[entredeuxguerres]

But hey... it stars Josephine the Maus. How can you top that?

Betty Amman? Spione, however, can't be topped.

[Big Silent Fan]

But hey... it stars Josephine the Maus. How can you top that?

Betty Amman? Spione, however, can't be topped.

Betty Amman is really and American actress.

Betty Amann (1905–1990)
Actress Born in Germany to American parents, dark-haired Betty Amann (born Philippine Amann) grew up in the United States.