(Fritz Lang, US 1937, 86 min., 35mm nitrate)
Print source: British Film Institute, London, UK
Fritz Lang identified his main theme as “fight against destiny.” Perhaps that’s why he was particularly fond of You Only Live Once, his second US film, inspired by the true story of Bonnie and Clyde.
In his previous work, Fury (1936), Lang was forced to seal his merciless verdict on American society with a kiss and comforting exit music. Walter Wanger, the producer of You Only Live Once, gave the director complete freedom, and Lang used the opportunity not only to deal with some of the social evils of the United States but also to get even with Hollywood and its conventions.
The film’s lighthearted opening is embarrassingly clichéd. Everything is shot in interiors with balanced key lighting; the characters, in perfect makeup and hairstyles, exchange puns all the time; and a stereotypical Italian shopkeeper provides comic relief for a drama that hasn’t even had time to develop. It does soon enough: the story of an ex-convict who tries to fit back into society has no other choice. And with each knot, another convention falls away. There is a touching kiss through prison bars, but that’s at the very beginning when the hero is about to be released. The next time we see him behind bars he is on death row, and the couple can only communicate through a tiny iron-sided window, which, with its many rivets, resembles a submarine porthole. Metal and glass prevail over the human face, and the texture itself prevents any sentimentality.
In the most romantic scene, the lovers are shown upside down, reflected in a pond, and their dialogue is accompanied by the croaking of the bullfrogs. The prison breakout takes place in deep fog, the characters are bound to move slowly, and this creates a dreamlike effect. The jail cell’s bars and their shadows intertwine in a truly surreal (or Expressionist, given Lang’s past) manner. And yet, the director was firm: “Obviously, you haven’t seen that jail cell at San Quentin because it is reproduced exactly in the film, even with the exact lighting. In one sense, there is a documentary quality to that scene, a fidelity with reality.”
Reality itself called for Expressionism, and You Only Live Once, while remaining a gripping social document, became one of the main predecessors to film noir.
This hauntingly beautiful original print is on British Ilford stock. Based on its low splice count and not too many scratches, it has not been screened very often. Its main issue is high shrinkage (up to 1.35%).
– Peter Bagrov