Biography

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Lania was interned by the Daladier government. Lania subsequently made his way to the United States via Spain and Portugal.

He produced the screenplay for G. W. Pabst's The Threepenny Opera (1931).

With the help of a forged letter of recommendation from Benito Mussolini's brother Arnaldo, disguised as an Italian fascist, he succeeded in gaining access to Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1923.

Lania's play Konjunktur (Oil Boom) premiered in Berlin in 1928, directed by Erwin Piscator, with incidental music by Kurt Weill. Three oil companies fight over the rights to oil production in a primitive Balkan country, and in the process exploit the people and destroy the environment. Weill's songs from this play, like "Die Muschel von Margate" are still performed.

After the first World War he became increasingly involved with far-left politics and political theatre. In Germany he worked for the Communist-affiliated Prometheus Film and wrote The Shadow of a Mine (1929) for the Volksfilmverband.