Inspired by the ongoing tales of derring-do and evil conspiracies found in such earlier literary and screen serials as Feuillade's Fantômas and Les vampires, Lang weaves an elaborate string of action set pieces revolving around the Spiders, a nefarious group of international criminals dedicating to stealing precious treasures by any means necessary. Surveillance, treachery, and even murder are all part of their agenda, and their latest target is Kay Hoog (prolific silent and sound actor Carl de Vogt), a strapping adventurer who informs fellow members of his men's club that he now possesses a treasure map leading to a cache of Incan gold. Located in a terrain long thought lost to the wild, the site is surrounded by hordes of natural perils along with the aforementioned Spiders, who would also love to get their thieving claws on the legendary Buddha's Head Diamond rumored to be stashed there as well. Fire, water, boulders, and other natural elements come into play as our hero and his colleagues face one life-threatening challenge after another before they find a chance to return to civilization.
Though certainly lightweight compared to Lang's achievements lurking around the corner, The Spiders finds his skills for composition and pacing already being honed to a fine art. The film moves briskly through its succession of cliffhanger plot development, wringing the maximum amount of incident and tension from scenes reminiscent of the sagas of Fu Manchu. Typical of the time, the film indulges in its share of "fear of the other" with the Incan populace (complete with dark face paint and elaborate feathered headdresses) mainly existing as faceless antagonists or mindless denizens. For full measure you also get an Asian as the primary nemesis with designs on conquering the civilized world, though at least the treatment here dodges some of the more extreme racial stereotyping of the era and is played so purely for cheap thrills it's hard to imagine anyone taking it seriously.
In keeping with its treatment of other releases of silent classics, Kino's release aims for the most pristine, seamless presentation of this film possible, presenting both parts together as one epic-length feature. The color tints are a bit more elaborate than usual this time around, ranging from a soft gold for many of the jungle scenes and the usual blue for night mixed in with jolting bursts of bright red and other random colors. As usual, the original German intertitles have been replaced with English ones, along with replacement cards for things like telegrams and invitations. Interestingly, most of the second half plays almost entirely without intertitles at all since it's wall-to-wall action throughout. Even without the English text you could easily follow what's going on, as the script largely consists of proclamations like "On the day of the feast, the sacrificial rock will be wet with the blood of our captive. As priestess, you will perform the execution."
Apart from the expected bits of damage and debris (which have been left intact, per their policy, without any excessive noise reduction), the transfer looks excellent throughout with satisfying levels of detail; an HD version down the road would certainly be welcome, but this should please Lang acolytes from start to finish. The only extra is a gallery of promotional images including the original theatrical souvenir brochure.
For more information about The Spiders, visit Kino Lorber. To order The Spiders, go to TCM Shopping.
by Nathaniel Thompson
