Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast - Tapa blanda

Fritz Lang, director of films such as "Metropolis", "M" and "The Big Heat", established his reputation in Germany during the silent era. When Hitler rose to power, Lang emigrated to the USA, where he injected his fatalistic Expressionism into the domestic world of Hollywood cinema. This biography presents him as a flawed human being, and includes suggestions that he murdered his first wife and engaged in sado-masochistic practices both on and off the set. Patrick McGilligan has also written biographies of George Cukor, Robert Altman, Jack Nicholson and James Cagney.

Fritz Lang was the visionary director of Metropolis, M, Fury, The Big Heat and over thirty other memorable films. But what lurks behind his legendary genius?

Did Fritz Lang murder his first wife? Did he really refuse an offer from Hitler to become the Third Reich's 'Fuhrer of film' before he fled to the United States? Was Lang a sensitive artist or a sadomasochist whose cruel on-set behaviour was mirrored in a sordid love life crowded with prostitutes and mistresses? Patrick McGilligan demolishes the myths created by Lang and reconstructs the fascinating, flawed human being behind the monster with the monocle.