Directed by Fritz Lang / Screenplay by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou

Before fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s to become one of Hollywood’s most bankable directors, Fritz Lang was already recognised as a pioneer of cinema. A master of the German Expressionist movement, his silent pictures include the 1927 science fiction classic Metropolis, while his first talkie, 1931’s serial killer drama M, made a household name of its star Peter Lorre and became a key influence on the crime and thriller genres. Preceding both of those milestones was Lang’s fantasy epic Die Nibelungen, a sprawling five-hour extravaganza split into two instalments, Siegfried and Kriemhild’s Revenge, which were released back-to-back in 1924. Despite its daunting running time, Die Nibelungen makes for compulsive viewing: with each instalment subdivided into chapters of around 25 minutes each, it plays as excitingly as any of the Hollywood cliffhanger serials of the era, and benefits from a considerably bigger budget. Based on the same medieval German poem that had inspired Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle some seventy years earlier, Die Nibelungen follows the adventures of Prince Siegfried, who sets out to win the hand of Princess Kriemhild of Burgundy: along the way he slays the dragon Fafnir, whose blood he bathes in to make himself invincible, and acquires a net of invisibility from the King of the Dwarfs. But these magical charms are not enough to save him from the court intrigues that pile up after his marriage to Kriemhild - and when Siegfried is murdered by his enemies, Kriemhild engineers a merciless and spectacular revenge.

Framed Dimensions: 330mm x 410mm

Acrylic on 300gsm Arches oil paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.