Search - The Spiders Part 1- The Golden Lake, Part 2- The Diamond Ship (1919) on DVD

Not top-notch Lang but still interesting

Anyechka | Rensselaer, NY United States | 10/15/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The earliest known surviving film directed by Fritz Lang, this two-part serial, originally intended as a four-parter, isn't exactly a shining example of either Lang or silent cinema as its finest, but it is interesting enough story-wise, as well as having some pretty impressive sets and good acting. Film was really in a transitional state in the late Teens and early Twenties, moving from the more simplistic plots and overly dramatic acting styles popular in the early years of silent features to the more mature and complex types of films that emerged in the next phase of silent cinema. This film in particular really does seem like a precursor of sorts to Indiana Jones. It opens with an old man sending out a message in a bottle just before he is murdered, and we come to find out that he was a Harvard professor who was taken prisoner by Incas who still practice human sacrifice. When this news reaches the story's hero, millionaire adventurer Kay Hoog, he calls off his involvement in an upcoming yacht race in favor of going off in search of the vast treasure the professor said these Incas have. At the same time that his party sets out, the criminal organisation the Spiders also sends out a party (after having attacked Kay when they discovered his plans), since they want the treasure for themselves. The adventure continues in South America and back into Europe, and then into other exotic locales such as India and the Falkland Islands. Along the way there are a lot of action sequences, mind control, kidnappings, the search for a lost diamond, a love triangle, and intrigue.

However, because this was made when film was at a transitional period, and Lang was just learning his craft, it doesn't exactly come across as a great story. The pacing can be really uneven (such as how a number of intertitles are along the lines of "Two days later" and "Five weeks later," as well as how some rather important events, such as Kay being overpowered by the Spiders and thrown into a cell, never happen onscreen but instead are relayed via intertitle), coupled with a lot of ridiculous and implausible plot twists, such as the passenger pigeon conveniently just outside of Four-Finger John's window who then just as conveniently flies to the ship where the rest of the Spiders are, the love at first sight between Kay and the Incan priestess, the diamond's alleged power to free Asia from foreign tyranny, and the poisonous gas that comes up just in time to enable Kay's escape from the Spiders when they're holding him hostage at one point. Part Two seems to be better than Part One, though it ends rather abruptly (albeit after tying up some of the more important plot points), almost in media res. If the third and fourth installments had been made, it probably could have been a much more satisfying and entertaining viewing experience. The print isn't exactly wonderful, but I've seen a lot worse, and we should be grateful that any print of such a rare film, long presumed lost, still exists at all instead of pedantically complaining that it wasn't crystal-clear and didn't have the utmost restoration done."