Eureka! Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing DR. MABUSE, DER SPIELER. [DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER.]. Running at nearly 5-hours, the epic masterpiece by the legendary Fritz Lang (Metropolis, M, Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse), is the first part of his infamous and career-spanning Mabuse trilogy. The complete version of the film, presented in 1080p HD on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world, will be released as part of Eureka! Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema Series on 28th October 2013.
One of the legendary epics of the silent cinema — and the first part of a trilogy that Fritz Lang developed up to the very end of his career — Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. [Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.] is a masterpiece of conspiracy that, even as it precedes the mind-blowing Spione from the close of Lang’s silent cycle, constructs its own dark labyrinth from the base materials of human fear and paranoia.
Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays Dr. Mabuse, the criminal mastermind whose nefarious machinations provide the cover for — or describe the result of — the economic upheaval and social bacchanalia at the heart of Weimar-era Berlin. Initiated with the arch-villain’s diabolical manipulation of the stock-market, and passing through a series of dramatic events based around hypnotism, charlatanism, hallucinations, Chinese incantations, cold-blooded murder, opiate narcosis and cocaine anxiety, Lang’s film maintains an unrelenting power all the way to the final act… which culminates in the terrifying question: “WHERE IS MABUSE?!”
A bridge between Feuillade’s somnambulistic serial-films and modern media-narratives of elusive robber-barons, Lang’s two-part classic set the template for the director’s greatest works: social commentary as superpsychology, poised at the brink of combustion. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Lang’s early masterpiece in its fully-restored version on Blu-ray in 1080p for the first time ever.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New, officially licensed transfer from restored HD materials
• New and improved optional English subtitles with original intertitles
• Exclusive feature-length audio commentary by film-scholar and Lang expert David Kalat
• Three video pieces: an interview with the composer of the restoration score, a discussion of Norbert Jacques, creator of Dr. Mabuse, and an examination of the film’s motifs in the context of German silent cinema
• 32-PAGE BOOKLET featuring vintage reprints of writing by Lang
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