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World traveler, painter, soldier, actor—Fritz Lang was many things before he settled into his niche as a director and screenwriter. Born on this day in Vienna, Austria in 1890, Lang, along with director Robert Wiene of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fame, defined the German Expressionist movement with movies such as Dr. Mabuse, King of Crime, Metropolis and M.
Filmmaker Factoid: In 1933, Lang was offered a position as head of the German Cinema Institute under the auspices of the Nazi-controlled government. Holding staunch anti-Nazi sentiments, Lang declined, and the position instead fell to Leni Riefenstahl, whose Truimph of the Will to this day epitomizes the genre of propagandist documentary.
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