Fritz Lang left Germany in 1934 although his exit was neither as speedy nor as perilous as he later recounted. One learnt to take everything he said with a barrelful of salt. He arrived in Hollywood via Paris and for a while it looked as though he might suffer the same fate as many of his fellow exiles but thanks to Joseph L. Mankiewicz he was assigned the task of directing 'Fury', a story written by Norman Krasna based upon an actual lynching. It was adapted by Lang and Bartlett Cormack. Eighty-five years on this film still packs a punch. Grahame Greene, never too liberal with his compliments, called it 'great' and singled out for praise Sylvia Sidney. She liked and admired Lang and was to make two more films with him. The same could not be said for Spencer Tracy who developed for the director a visceral loathing. Lang only bullied those who couldn't fight back but with the 'stars' he simply threw his weight about. His constant demand for retakes was anathema to an instinctive actor like Tracy. It cannot be denied however that this film and his performance in it did Tracy's career no harm at all. Lang found it tough to adjust to the fact that in Hollywood the producer was king and he bitterly resented the films happy ending imposed by Mankiewicz. His subsequent battles with producers have become part of Hollywood folklore. This brilliant, timeless film ensured that Lang was on his way but it was to be a bumpy road. The greatest line in the film goes to Sidney:'The mob doesn't think; it doesn't have time to think'. History can certainly testify to that!
Review of Fury
