The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Fritz Lang, 1933, Germany (8.0*)
This is an amazing film for its era, also known as "Crimes of Dr. Mabuse". Those who had Poltergeist make the hair on their neck stand up will likely feel chills from this film as well. Master director Fritz Lang is more well-known for "M" (Peter Lorre as a child killer) and the SciFi classic "Metropolis" (he likes the "M" thing!), yet this film has more radical (ie, advanced) film techniques for the time, especially special effects of ghosts. The film is about a psychological study of a madman, Dr. Mabuse, in an asylum for 10 years, whose writings have progressed from rampant hallucination to lucid descriptions of perfect crimes.

This is all innocent until the crimes start being committed, exactly as Mabuse wrote them. A police detective is baffled and investigates the case, while the psychiatrist is obsessed with studying Mabuse. We see some incredible ghost effects, as an apparently "projected ghost" from the still living Dr.Mabuse talks to, and hands items to the living. This is an excellent early crime (and horror) film, of course, dated by today's standards, but should be seen by all film students, and fans of old crime movies. This film makes all the "critics all-time best" lists. In German with subtitles.

Note: known as "expressionism", these are films that show a character's inner torment as external visualizations in film. Lang hated the term but was its best practitioner.

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Duck Soup

Dir: Leo McCarey, 1933, bw (8.8*)
AFI Top 100
As Marx Brothers films go, this is the best. It includes the incredible mirror sequence between Groucho and Harpo, entirely based on timing. The movie has a typically inane plot: the government of Freedonia is bankrupt, and the country's richest woman, brilliantly played by Marx favorite Margaret Dumont, funds the government, but only if she chooses the President. Of course, that ends up being Rufus T. Firefly, Groucho of course, who wow's Margaret with this opening pickup sequence:
Groucho: Tell me, are you married, or are you rich? Answer the second question first....
Margaret: I'm a widow, I was with him 'til the end.
Groucho: Oh, so then it was homicide! ... you know, I could stay with you til the cows come home. On second thought, I could stay with the cows til you came home!

What woman could resist? The ensuing is a Marx-style sendup of politics, war, espionage (as the brothers are spies and counterspies), and government corruption. Director Leo McCarey later won two Oscars for Direction for The Awful Truth and Going My Way.

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