Films/DVD Asylum

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, the Fritz Lang classic.

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tinear

(A)

The second installment of the Mabuse story.
Fascinating, chilling account of the most vicious criminal mind you ever will see portrayed. You think terrorism is new? Mabuse had a master plan making OBL's seem like a child's.
Outside of the heroine's complete inability to act and her physical ugliness... highly recommended. You will be treated to Fx which make our current computer stuff appear dated. You will also see many original scenes which have been borrowed ad nauseum.
How many crime movies do you see nowadays that boast memorably evil (not lip-smacking caricatures such as Lector) villains AND intelligent, humorous, multi-dimensional detectives?
As you will see, Lohmann is Mabuse's equal... or is he?

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Yep, I've been recommending this to folks for some time. - Audiophilander 01:00:02 07/02/06 (2)
Also, the first installment of Dr. Mabuse is quite good, but it isn't quite as accessible as the Criterion release of Testament, at least based on the older chopped up domestic release from Image (see above). The new Kino version is coming out in July, if memory serves, should be much better (except for crappy cover art), as it's a more recent restoration and a much, MUCH longer version. Here's the image link:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000FS9FLW.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V51259156_.jpg
I purchased the Eureka Masters of Cinema version recently from a European vendor (PAL, region 2); link here:
http://www.laserdisken.dk/billeder/forsidealm/1079968785403870.jpg
...and will be viewing it this coming week as time allows.
BTW, I just watched the new Eureka Masters of Cinema version of Faust and it's KILLER, by far the best version ever on DVD (see link below for comparison)!
Cheers,
AuPh
- New DVD Beaver comparisons of Murnau's Faust... (Open in New Window)
- Thanks for mention Murnau's Faust... - Harmonia 14:59:24 07/06/06 (1)
  ...I haven't watched mine yet but I'm thrilled this new edition is available and in my possession - at last! Now that I've heard your endorsement I can't wait til the weekend.
  Testament of Dr. Mabuse has long been one of my favorite Lang films. Lang was huge when I was in art/film school, and we used to watch 16mm versions of most of his films at school in the evenings, sometimes all night. I'm always pleased to find other fans.
  What thrills await the unitiated.
  - You're welcome; Eureka's Master of Cinema release should be the definitive version of this classic Murnau film. - Audiophilander 09:50:45 07/12/06 (0)
    All of these recent restorations are provided by the Murnau Foundation (Kino's & Masters of Cinema series). These folks are doing a great job of restoring these classic silent films as well as restoring the prestige of German expressionist film to it's rightful place.
    Harmonia, if you don't have Eureka's MoC version of Dr Mabuse, the Gambler, I can wholeheartedly recommend that one as well. It's far superior to the older truncated Image release which was the longest version available several years ago (some critics said "definitive" at that time, but little did they know ...!).
    The new Kino version will probably be exactly the same as the MoC (Eureka) release taking into account PAL to NTSC conversion which may or may not affect the final film length (frame per second speed in PAL versus NTSC play is faster for all films; PAL usually being 25fps as opposed to NTSC's 24fps, if I'm not mistaken), but I doubt that it'll be better, and the Kino cover art for this reissue isn't as classy as Eureka's.
    > > > "Lang was huge when I was in art/film school, and we used to watch 16mm versions of most of his films at school in the evenings, sometimes all night. I'm always pleased to find other fans." < < <
    If you're like me you'd also enjoy the restoration of Lang's Spies...
    http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?product_id=833
    ...again, this Kino release is far superior to the dismally truncated laser disc version that I previously owned (for whatever reason, Image's LD version removed much of Lang's story along with it's character development, richness and depth, the omissions having sadly turned a great film into a senseless mess.
    BTW, here's another German silent classic title recently released by Kino from a Murnau Foundation restoration with better cover art (see above) than Kino's new Mabuse release; Deep Discount notified me that this title has JUST shipped):
    - Warning Shadows (dir. Arthur Robison) (Open in New Window)
Special Effects - rico 11:22:43 07/01/06 (1)
For years I would regularly show the dragon sequence from Lang's "Siegfried" as it is mind boggling how real it is.
- Thanks, I'll seek it out. Mabuse really has a few extraordinary sequences which, - tinear 15:11:01 07/01/06 (0)
  unlike computer crap, look "real."

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