Curt Courant was a German cinematographer who worked on over a hundred films during the silent and early sound eras. Courant worked in several European countries, collaborating with figures such as Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang. As he was of Jewish ancestry, Courant was forced to leave Germany in 1933 and go into exile following the Nazi takeover of power. Courant worked at several of the leading British studios during the mid-1930s. He was the uncle of Willy Kurant who also became a cinematographer.
Fritz Lang with cameraman Curt Courant (middle) on film Frau im Mond (1929)
Woman in the Moon is a German science fiction silent film that premiered 15 October 1929 at the UFA-Palast am Zoo cinema in Berlin to an audience of 2,000. It is often considered to be one of the first "serious" science fiction films. It was directed by Fritz Lang, and written by his wife Thea von Harbou, based on her 1928 novel The Rocket to the Moon. It was released in the US as By Rocket to the Moon and in the UK as Girl in the Moon. The basics of rocket travel were presented to a mass audience for the first time by this film, including the use of a multi-stage rocket. The film was shot between October 1928 and June 1929 at the UFA studios in Neubabelsberg near Berlin.
Theatrical release poster
Director Fritz Lang (on the right), on the set of his film Woman in the Moon, 1929.
V-2 rocket with "Woman in the Moon" nose art referencing the movie