Top Ranked Films of Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang
25th in points with 21,131 with only 4 titles in the top 1000

Lang was an early master of German expressionism, along with Murnau, Pabst, and von Sternberg, which dominated his early films. Later he came to Hollywood and made more western styled films that weren't as artistic, most were standard film noir and crime films, though better than the average fare.

These are all the films of Lang’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Metropolis (1927), silent #7
2. M. (1931) #16
3. Big Heat, The (1953) #563
4. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922) silent, #640

However, 17 titles in all made polls, only Woody Allen had this many if we include all films that made any polls. Hitchcock had 15 overall. [If we included all these additional titles in the director point totals, Lang would be ranked 14th with 29,968 points]

These were just out of the top 1000:
5. Tiger of Eschnapur, The (1959) #1015
6. Woman in the Window, The (1944) #1069
7. Moonfleet (1955) #1197
8. You Only Live Once (1937) #1239
9. Indian Tomb, The (1959) #1258
10. While the City Sleeps (1956) #1386
11. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) #1462
12. Nibelungen, Die (1924) silent, #1474
13. Destiny (1921) silent, #1515
14. Fury (1936) #1631
15. Spione (1928) #1873
16. Scarlet Street (1945) #1914
17. Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933) #2092

Metropolis [photo below] is an all-time classic of science fiction. The plot isn’t much but the visuals are now legendary. Even more intense, however, is the suspense film M., in which Peter Lorre plays a child murderer. Lang's early works are his more classic.

Production photo from Metropolis

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition