Fritz Lang ou le dernier bond du tigre

"I was friends with Fritz Lang for many years. I watched and rewatched most of his films. The text which follows in not intended for a readership of cinephiles. The often stormy encounters that I had with Fritz Lang are related here exactly as they occurred. The not-always-evident ties between Fritz Lang and the characters in his films are part of my personal interpretation. The numerous critiques of his work which I got to read overlap here and there, yet differ on numerous points. None of them convey the absolute truth. I left aside those critics who, upon seeing certain films again, reconsidered their first impressions. Their enthusiasm evaporated. A few of them view the film-maker's American work as the second-best product of a forced exile. The few propositions that I make about the two 'Tigers' reflect only my opinion and may just as easily be rejected. The letters that Fritz Lang sent to me, presented at the end of the volume, speak so eloquently that I need not comment on them. Lastly, let us acknowledge that this man never compromised in terms of what he wanted to express, and this was true more often than people know, even with ridiculously low budgets. He managed to make the most of them, while remaining true to himself. It was at once his strength and his weakness."

Alfred Eibel was born in Vienna in 1932. Faced with the Hitlerian threat, he sought refuge in Brussels with his entire family. He founded the "Alfred Eibel" publishing house in 1974, in Lausanne, where he published works by Jean-Pierre Martinet, Léo Malet, Georges Perros, Fernando Pessoa, Kenneth White and Yves Martin. A few years later, however, he decided to join French publisher Flammarion, where he now directs the collection "Aspects de l'Asie". Alfred Eibel works with numerous newspapers, magazines and journals as a literary critic. He is also an avid cinephile and a friend of Fritz Lang. In 1966, he stayed at the latter's home in Beverly Hills, and meets with him in the course of his film-making trips between Paris, Germany and the United States.