THE SPIDERS PART 2: THE DIAMOND SHIP (Spinnen, 2. Teil – Spinnen, 2. Teil – Das Brillantenschiff, Die)
(director/writer: Fritz Lang; cinematographer: Karl Freund; cast: Carl de Vogt (Kay Hoog), Ressel Orla (Lio Sha), Georg John (Dr. Telphas), Thea Zander (Ellen Terry), Reiner Steiner (Captain of Diamond-Ship), Edgar Pauly (Four finger-John), Meinhart Maur (Chinese); Runtime: 81; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Erich Pommer; Image Entertainment; 1920-silent-Germany-in German-with English subtitles)
“This is early Lang before he got his act together.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Fritz Lang’s (“The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse”) The Spiders Part 2: The Diamond Ship cliffhanger serial picks up where part 1 left off with the Spiders, the secret arch-criminal gang, murdering the Incan priestess our San Francisco wealthy adventurer hero Kay Hoog (Carl de Vogt) brought back from his escapade in the Peruvian mountains while searching for a lost treasure. The Spiders are intent on seeking a diamond, shaped like the head of Buddha, realizing that the wearer of which will rule Asia. The plot gets more complex than the first part and the story gets more muddled. It takes us on a dangerous treasure hunt for the Buddha stone to such scattered places as an underground city in Chinatown of San Francisco, to London, to India, and to the Falkland Islands. Kay gets involved searching for the stone after leading a police raid on the Spiders’ headquarters where the police recover diamonds from their recent thefts. Kay somehow acquires a mysterious ivory key that leads him onto the spiders’ trail where his nemesis, one of the leaders of the Spiders, Lio Sha (Ressel Orla), schemes to get him. He also uncovers a plot by the Spiders to kidnap diamond magnate John Terry’s daughter Ellen Terry (Thea Zander) in order to make the magnate reveal where the invaluable Buddha stone is, a stone that was ill-gotten by Terry’s pirate ancestor in the 16th century from the Ming dynasty and is supposedly in his possession.
The hokum adventure tale features such varied things as a clairvoyant, masked disguises, pirates, carrier pigeons and a poisonous crater. It hardly makes sense, but it’s lively and fast moving. This is early Lang before he got his act together, showcasing the promising talent soon to come but still years away from maturity.
REVIEWED ON 2/20/2007 GRADE: C+ https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/