Watching The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, I'm struck with the notion that every filmmaker should at least make a silent movie before graduating to talking pictures. Fritz Lang already had a long long career in silent movies before creating this masterpiece: The weary Death, Dr. Mabuse The Gambler, Siegfried's Death, Metropolis. From these speechless movie he learned to rely on powerful scenes and clear sequences to convey information.
When he moved to sound pictures, he didn't just put talking heads on screen. He created amazing, suspenseful sequences which use the settings' sounds and the characters' own behavior and facial expressions to tell the story.
The first sequence of the movie defines the movie's style very well: a man hides behind a trunk in an empty room. Everywhere we can hear the sound of heavy machinery, certainly marking the rhythm of his own heart beats as two men enter the room and move towards the trunk. One spots his foot, but they don't betray their knowledge of him. They walk out and wait to ambush him. The man hiding isn't an idiot either and doesn't leave through the door. But man are waiting him outside nevertheless.
No words are exchanged, we don't know who's who, but its' one of the most suspenseful and clearest sequences I've seen in cinema in a long time, the type Alfred Hitchcock was learning to make by the time this movie came out.
Throughout the movie we see sequences like these. Lang realized sound wasn't just for dialogue but an important storytelling technique too; he had realized that already in M, in which a killer is found out by his trademark whistling. But The Testament of Dr. Mabuse takes sound to new heights. Modern filmmakers should take a few lessons from Lang his contemporaries.
But what's this movie about anyway? It's the sequel to Lang's 1922 Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler; I haven't seen it and I regret it because events from that movie have a lot of important in this one. Lang fills in the details as best as he can, but I bet nothing beats watching the real deal.
Dr Mabuse, a master criminal, lives now in an asylum and spends his days writing what seems to be a testament. Meanwhile criminals carry out elaborate crimes. Slowly we realize the criminals and Mabuse's testament are connected, but how can that be if he's locked up and seemingly insane? That's what Commissioner Lohmann tries to find out in this labyrinthine crime thriller.
People who have prejudices against old movies, black-and-white movies and foreign subtitled movies, should learn this is one of the best movies ever made, mixing just about every genre imaginable, from horror to romance; engaging from start to finish, with one of the best villains ever to grace cinema and with one of the most realistic and logical plots to spread crime and gain power, Lang created a precious gem that honors the history and language of cinema.
When he moved to sound pictures, he didn't just put talking heads on screen. He created amazing, suspenseful sequences which use the settings' sounds and the characters' own behavior and facial expressions to tell the story.
The first sequence of the movie defines the movie's style very well: a man hides behind a trunk in an empty room. Everywhere we can hear the sound of heavy machinery, certainly marking the rhythm of his own heart beats as two men enter the room and move towards the trunk. One spots his foot, but they don't betray their knowledge of him. They walk out and wait to ambush him. The man hiding isn't an idiot either and doesn't leave through the door. But man are waiting him outside nevertheless.
No words are exchanged, we don't know who's who, but its' one of the most suspenseful and clearest sequences I've seen in cinema in a long time, the type Alfred Hitchcock was learning to make by the time this movie came out.
Throughout the movie we see sequences like these. Lang realized sound wasn't just for dialogue but an important storytelling technique too; he had realized that already in M, in which a killer is found out by his trademark whistling. But The Testament of Dr. Mabuse takes sound to new heights. Modern filmmakers should take a few lessons from Lang his contemporaries.
But what's this movie about anyway? It's the sequel to Lang's 1922 Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler; I haven't seen it and I regret it because events from that movie have a lot of important in this one. Lang fills in the details as best as he can, but I bet nothing beats watching the real deal.
Dr Mabuse, a master criminal, lives now in an asylum and spends his days writing what seems to be a testament. Meanwhile criminals carry out elaborate crimes. Slowly we realize the criminals and Mabuse's testament are connected, but how can that be if he's locked up and seemingly insane? That's what Commissioner Lohmann tries to find out in this labyrinthine crime thriller.
People who have prejudices against old movies, black-and-white movies and foreign subtitled movies, should learn this is one of the best movies ever made, mixing just about every genre imaginable, from horror to romance; engaging from start to finish, with one of the best villains ever to grace cinema and with one of the most realistic and logical plots to spread crime and gain power, Lang created a precious gem that honors the history and language of cinema.