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Already, as the filming of Metropolis drew to a close, Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou were planning their next film. "The Ufa crisis did not exist for them," recalled Erich Kettelhut. "They made their plans as if everything would continue in the future in its old way." Far away in Hollywood, Erich Pommer wrote to tell the director that he could arrange a comfortable studio contract for him if Lang wanted to come to America. Lang had been linked so closely to Pommer that they were constantly mentioned in the same breath, but in 1927 he hardly gave Hollywood a moment's consideration. For one thing, as actor Willy Fritsch put it in his memoirs, Lang was "more patriotic than a German nationalist Junker." According to Fritsch, who would be the male lead of the director's next two productions, "When he found out I drove a Cadillac, he hit the roof. Fritz Lang believed it was the duty of every good German to drive a Mercedes." February and March 1927 were taken up with publicity and personal appearances on behalf of Metropolis elsewhere in Europe. Lang and von Harbou traveled to Vienna for several days, shared tea with members of the press at the Hotel Bristol, signed autographs for two thousand fans for three hours on a Sunday morning. "Luckily," reported Mein Film, "the two artists are used to working hard and after signing the umpteenth autograph they were still in the same good mood [that] they were in at the beginning." The Ufa crisis by now was out in the open, and people were whispering that Lang would never again work under the company's logo. Would he turn to one of the smaller, independent outfits that still managed to thrive in Germany? Or would he, like Pommer, try his luck somewhere else in the world? The answer did not become clear until June, when Lang announced that he had formed his own company, Fritz-Lang-Film GmbH, with offices at Friedrichstrasse 224. He took on two partners: Hermann Fellner, who had worked behind the scenes at May-Film-GmbH, and Joseph Somlo, another executive with long experience in the German film industry. But on screen the title of "producer" would be Lang's alone. "Fritz Lang is Staying in Germany!" headlined the Film-Kurier on June 19. "It was feared that Fritz Lang also, because of his American successes, would C H A P T E R 7 1928 1929 I 928 - I 9 2 9 35 follow the numerous offers which were made to him," reported Germany's screen world publication. Ufa was able to turn the development to its advantage. In exchange for modest investment guarantees, the company sewed up control of all domestic and foreign exhibition of all Fritz-Lang-Film GmbH productions. Even so, Ufa feared Lang's excesses would cut into potential profits. It ordered Major Grau to initiate "as soon as possible a discussion with Mr. Lang about his next film. All production details should be spelled out as precisely as possible and recorded in the files so that constant supervision of Mr. Lang's production is possible and cost overruns can be prevented." Advertising and publicity would also be left to Ufa, under Rudi Feld, the energetic head of promotion. Ufa was an acknowledged leader in commercial and publishing tie-ins, souvenir programs, spectacular promotions, showy premieres , expensive parties. Lang's films had always received deluxe treatment from Ufa, and it was to his benefit to exploit the company's expertise in this area. Ufa would pull out all stops on the Berlin premieres of the Fritz-Lang-Film GmbH films of the next severalyears, transformingthe cinemas with fantastical special effects. The facade of the Ufa-Palast am Zoo would be lit up for the premiere of Spione, in 1928, by a stylized giant eye, with floodlights beaming from the pupils, piercing the throngs of illustrious guests. And the Palast would be similarly transformed for the 1929 premiere of Die Frau im Mond, the building converted into a model of the universe. Above the facade, model rockets were shot out of a massive sculpted globe, disappearing into an artificial sky. High above the main entrance, neon lights spelled out the glittering lure—words the director treasured above all else: EIN FILM VONFRITZ LANG. Even while speculation about their future was mounting, Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou were immersing themselves in their next film project; as was her wont...

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