This chapter describes the making of Lang and Thea von Harbou’s next film project after Metropolis, a spy thriller called Spione (Spies). Production began in December of 1927 and lasted for fifteen weeks, until March of 1928. Critics were divided over Spione when it was released in March 1928. The socialist Film und Volk labeled Lang’s newest film “a load of garbage ... despite the flashy and extravagant effects, deathly dull,” while others found the film, after the pinnacle of Metropolis, enormously entertaining yet somehow anticlimatic. Lang also completed Die Frau im Mond (The Woman in the...

This chapter describes the making of Lang and Thea von Harbou’s next film project after Metropolis, a spy thriller called Spione (Spies). Production began in December of 1927 and lasted for fifteen weeks, until March of 1928. Critics were divided over Spione when it was released in March 1928. The socialist Film und Volk labeled Lang’s newest film “a load of garbage ... despite the flashy and extravagant effects, deathly dull,” while others found the film, after the pinnacle of Metropolis, enormously entertaining yet somehow anticlimatic. Lang also completed Die Frau im Mond (The Woman in the Moon) about rocket travel. The disappointing box-office returns for Die Frau im Mond contributed to the final breakdown of Lang’s relations with film company Ufa.