“Siegfried” (1924), directed by Fritz Lang. The giant dragon required six operators at one time, and was as much of a technical achievement as the dragon in Douglas Fairbanks’ “Thief of Bagdad,” which was released the same year, in a sign of how Germany’s Weimar-era UFA had the ambition and potential to be a true competitor to Hollywood. This was a year before Lang’s expensive “Metropolis” almost bankrupted the studio.