Die Spinnen, 2. Teil – Das Brillantenschiff (1920)

Die Spinnen, 2. Teil – Das Brillantenschiff: Directed by Fritz Lang. With Carl de Vogt, Ressel Orla, Georg John, Rudolf Lettinger. Kay Hoog wants to stop the organisation “Die Spinnen” to get a certain diamond, that will give the owning woman the crown of Asia, but the man, who should be the owner of that diamond, doesn’t know of its existence….

“This u0026quot;Spidersu0026quot; sequel, u0026quot;The Diamond Shipu0026quot;, is just as ridiculous and sensational as the seriesu0026#39;s first part. The rich adventurer continues in his pursuit of the criminal gang, the Spiders, who are after a diamond thatu0026#39;s linked with Asian independence, leading the protagonist into a world of espionage, kidnapping and to a subterranean Chinatown.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFritz Lang continues to copy other filmmakers, including Louis Feuillade. An early scene in this film is, I think, evident of Fritz Langu0026#39;s poor direction at this early point in his career: the overhead shot of a bank robbery, with no ceiling, was done better by Maurice Tourneur in u0026quot;Alias Jimmy Valentineu0026quot; (1915). With Tourneur, it was an innovative, well-photographed scene, but with Lang, itu0026#39;s derivative and poorly done. Itu0026#39;s the same with the rest of this two-part series; thereu0026#39;s some technical skill, but itu0026#39;s all inferior duplication of other films and serials. Lang would become a great director, but that didnu0026#39;t begin here. And, German silent cinema would be one of the greatest periods in film history, but u0026quot;The Cabinet of Dr. Caligariu0026quot; (1920) is still the beginning of that. u0026quot;The Spidersu0026quot; is merely what everyone else had already been doing… often better.”