DVDs in Review

The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Box Set

Title: The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Box Set

Release date: October 19 2009

Certificate: PG

Format: DVD

DVD RRP: £49.99

Rating: 5/5

With a combined running time of over eight hours and spread across four discs, it's easy to realise just how much effort the Masters of Cinema/Eureka! DVD label has put into this long overdue collection.

The master director's most recognisable creation, the criminal mastermind, master of disguise and symbol of paranoid fear Dr Mabuse, is represented here in his entirety from 'Dr Mabuse: The Gambler' (1922), through the famed 'The Testament of Dr Mabuse' (1933) right up to Lang's final film 'The 1000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse' in 1960.

'The Gambler' is split into two parts, amounting to nearly five hours in total. We see Mabuse rise and fall in Weimar-era Berlin but with such an epic running time and no dialogue, it's going to put a lot of modern viewers off.

Fear and the balance of power is frequently explored

'The Testament' sees Mabuse institutionalised and plotting to organise an allusive 'Empire of Crime'. If the first film could be compared with Lang's masterpiece 'Metropolis' (the world's most expensive silent film at the time), this more claustrophobic thriller would be best seen as his other acknowledged tour de force murder thriller 'M'.

'Testament' marks Lang's second film and in another bold step, it even crosses over a police inspector character from 'M' (which was his first sound film). In addition to then-revolutionary use of sound design, this sequel also adds an off-key supernatural theme as well as delving into the idea of insanity and ghosts to make for a very unique thriller.

The persecuted, the state helpers and wilderness in a 'tame' society

As the third in Lang's Mabuse trilogy, '1000 Eyes' bridges a gap of nearly 30 years but this isn't one of those latter day cash ins. Instead it, like the prior two masterworks, dives headfirst into the public consciousness of that era, namely spy fiction, '1984' style surveillance and nihilism.

It also introduced a suave spy character who remains at ease when drinking, wooing or shooting into hidden lairs and adopting gadgets to get by - remember that this was before the first James Bond film made the idea fashionable.

It's James Bond but not as we know him

There are probably too many extra features to go into but there's everything from insightful commentary tracks on the films themselves to documentaries on their productions, alternate endings and epic booklets all housed in a nice box set. More importantly, the remastered sound and visuals are brilliantly done, and that's the most important thing.

Naturally, Fritz Lang fans will snap this up immediate but newcomers shouldn't be put off by the sheer size of this collection. Watch 'Metropolis' and 'M' first, then delve in and sample the artistic delights.