What's this about?

Lately, it seems like many of the movies/shows are just a rehash or reboot of things that have already been done. And so I started to dive into the past. It's been fun, but I find myself losing track of which ones I’ve seen and whether or not I enjoyed them. Sometimes the titles themselves just don't tell me enough to remember.

I wouldn’t have voluntarily watched a lot of these movies when I was younger. It’s strange how interests change. That goes for what I read, too. I have another blog that explores books. I’m mostly reading older fiction and memoirs, and some of the books have led me to movies/shows and vice versa. In those cases, I may post the book review over here as well.

There will be spoilers, which is different than my book reviews. That’s mostly because I want to have enough information to help me remember what I’ve seen. I’m getting older. The brain doesn’t cooperate like it used to. What can I say? The gray hairs are catching up with me!

Sunday, July 2, 2023

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - 1933

This movie came across my radar when I was looking for a thriller. I had no idea what it was about and no clue it was a sequel. I'm going to try and watch the first movie, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, sometime and see what I think. That one is a silent movie, so we'll see. This is also directed by Fritz Lang, and I've watched a couple of his movies now including M, Metropolis, and The Woman in the Window. It's been a bit of a roller coaster. Dr. Mabuse is from a novel by Norbert Jacques. I'll have to look into that as well.

I'm struggling to find a way to describe this movie. A man is trapped in a job he wants to get out of. He's also fallen in love with a woman who doesn't know about his past. A master criminal in an insane asylum is influencing his doctor with his writings. A police inspector is trying to figure out what's going on. He's gotten a strange phone call from a former colleague, but now the man is incoherent and only react by singing when someone approaches him. 

This reminded me of a serial a bit. There was a "man behind the curtain" with lackeys that did his bidding without knowing who they are working for. There's a diabolical scheme, but it's handled a bit more seriously than a serial would. There's a different tone that flows through this movie, and I read Lang was trying to reference Hitler. Goebbels even banned the movie in Germany, so Lang did a good job getting his message across since it was seen as "dangerous."

I liked this one. For me, it suffered from a lack of resolution at the end. A chemical plant was on fire, but did the poisonous gas get into the city? We never find out. Does Tom have to pay for his criminal activities? Dunno. That bothered me at the end of M as well, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie.

The inspector was one of my favorite characters. He was also in M, so it was nice to see him again. I can see myself watching this one again, even though it was in German. I had subtitles, and those help, but I feel like I'm picking up more German. Maybe one day, I'll have the capability to watch a movie without them and actually know what's going on. Maybe...Good Movie!



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