The Girl in the Moon , your last silent film, was also a science fiction story.
My technical advisers on this film were Willy Ley, who is dead now, and Professor Oberth, who became a Nazi. Ley, however, became a rocket expert in the United States. I am told that some of the people who saw the moon landings said that it was exactly as I showed it in my film--the early part of the film showing the launching of the rocket expedition and their landing on the moon, not the later parts of the story, of course.
The Girl in the Moon came right at the dawn of the sound period.
When I finished it, UFA wanted me to add sound to portions of it--sound effects for the rocket going off, ect. One of their executives had been in New York and had seen the first sound picture there and was very enthusiastic about it. I, on the other hand, felt that sound would kill the style of the film. So UFA told me that they would break their contract with the Fritz Lang Film Company. My lawyer said to me that I had to live up to all of my obligations to UFA, otherwise I couldn't win my case. This went on for seven months and I had to give up to UFA my chief actress, my three architects, and several other people. I was very disgusted with filmmaking and wanted to become a chemist. Just at this time an independent producer who did not enjoy a very good personal reputation constantly came to me asking me to make a picture for him. I always turned him down until finally I said to him, "I'll make you a proposition: I will make a picture for you provided that you have nothing to do with it but give me money to make it. You will have no right to cut anything or to change anything; the film must be finished and exhibited to audiences exactly as I made it." This film was M .
