In what sense might Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and Josef von Sternberg's "Der Blaue Engel" be considered 'modernist'.

Both Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927) and Josef von Sternberg's "Der Blaue Engel" (1930) appeared during the height of the 'Golden Age' of the Weimar Republic. This 'Golden Age' occurred between 1923 and 1930 and was a product of many economic events. Whereas Germany had been in dire economic straits following their defeat in World War I, in 1924 the Dawes plan was introduced by the US as a means to repatriate and reduce Germany's reparation payments specified by the treaty …

… the Making: Weimar Cinema and National Identity in Bruce A. Murray and Christopher J. Wickham, Framing the Past - The Historiography of German Cinema and Television (Illinois, 1992), p60 11.Josef Von Sternberg, Fun in a Chinese Laundry (London, 1965) p49 12.Von Sternberg, Fun in a Chinese Laundry (London, 1965) p327 13.Alexander Walker, Sex in the Movies - the Celluloid Sacrifice (Aylesbury, 1966) p89 14.Peter Baxter ed, Sternberg (London, 1980) p97 15.Walker, Sex in the Movies (Aylesbury, 1966) p88-89