This 1929 Fritz Lang film, written by his then-wife Thea von Harbou, was banned by the Nazis in 1937 due to a prop – the film shows in detail the first working rocket, and the Nazis were concerned their secret may get out.
Willy Fritsch plays our main character, Wolf Helius. We’ve seen him in Spione, another Fritz Lang film. Fritsch has a very successful silent film career, which survived throughout the Nazi rule. In fact, as late as 1945, Fritsch was in films written by Goebbels himself, such as Das Leben geht weiter. Unlike many actors who continued their work during the Nazi era, Fritsch was still successful after the war. His final film was Andere Zeiten – andere Sitten, released in 1967, in which he starred alongside his son Thomas.
Gerda Maurus also stars in this film. We know her story from Spione.
Klaus Pohl is another main actor in Frau im Mond. Uncredited in Spione and M, he later became a successful actor as well. We see him in such films as Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse, Das leichte Mädchen (also alongside Fritsch), Paracelsus, and Die goldene Spinne. Although he acted throughout the war, it seems he kept away from the overtly pro-Nazi films.
Fritz Rasp started his film career back in 1916 with Schuhpalast Pinkus. Having previously worked on stage in the theatre, some of Rasp’s work were naturally film versions of plays, such as Götz von Berlichingen zubenannt mit der eisernen Hand and Die 3 Groschen-Oper. He’s also in Metropolis, Spione, Emil und die Detektive, Paracelsus, and Maria Stuart. Rasp’s final film was released in the year of his death (1976), but he was busiest in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s.
This film is almost three hours long, and includes comedy, drama, romance, and science (at the time science fiction, but due to the use of scientists as advisors, much of the “fiction” part became a reality! It isn’t until the last 20 minutes or so that the fiction takes over). It would be ideal in a film history course.