Film Forum

Weimar Republic, 1924
Directed by Fritz Lang
Starring Margarete Schön, Gertrud Arnold, Theodor Loos, Fritz Alberti, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Screenplay by Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang
Approx. 148 min. DCP.

What begins as a traditional revenge tale becomes emotionally charged with Lang's cynical attitudes toward vengeance and mob hysteria. As the film races towards its frightening climax, there is little to distinguish between the man who killed Siegfried and the woman who pits army against army and brings about the slaughter of her countrymen in the name of “justice.”

Lang heightened the story's dramatic tension by meticulously choreographing the actors' positioning within the huge, expressionistic sets constructed for the film, so that every shot works to subtly enhance the steadily intensifying conflict. Riveting from start to finish, KRIEMHILD’S REVENGE is an unforgettable glimpse into the heart of darkness of the human soul that ranks alongside Lang's similar examinations of human bloodlust: M, FURY, and THE BIG HEAT.

Presented with support from The Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film

with

What's Opera, Doc?
U.S., 1957
Directed by Chuck Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Music Composed by Milt Franklyn, Richard Wagner, Jacques Offenbach
Approx. 7 min. DCP.

Elmer Fudd as the demigod Siegfried and Bugs Bunny as the Valkyrie Brunhilde lampoons classic opera by using its elements to set up the latest chapter in Elmer's hapless pursuit of Bugs.

Reviews

“Impression is of pure, passionate nihilism running riot.”
– Time Out