BD 229, 305-309 Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960 - 1964

[Finch]

SYNOPSIS
Features Include : The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse, The Return of Dr Mabuse, The Invisible Dr Mabuse, The Testament of Dr Mabuse, Scotland Yard Hunts Dr Mabuse, The Death Ray of Dr Mabuse

Fritz Lang made two of the defining works of early German cinema with Dr Mabuse the Gambler and The Testament of Dr Mabuse, two masterpieces centred on Norbert Jacques’ nefarious literary supervillain. In 1960, Lang was charged by Artur Brauner’s CCC Film with making a third crime thriller centred on the infamous Dr Mabuse, completing a trilogy nearly forty years in the making. A huge success, The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse gave CCC the confidence to launch into an entire series focused on the master criminal between 1960 and 1964, all starring Wolfgang Priess in the title role. All six films are presented here alongside a wealth of new and archival extras.

In Fritz Lang’s final film The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse, the eponymous master of disguise (Priess) re-emerges in the Cold War era after a lengthy absence – and uses all manner of methods to insight murder and mayhem. The Return of Dr Mabuse sees him use brainwashed prison inmates to commit a litany of crimes while evading the German authorities and the FBI. In The Invisible Dr Mabuse, he seeks to use an amazing new invention – a device that renders the user invisible – to his own ends. The Testament of Dr Mabuse – a remake of Lang’s earlier film – has the German police tying themselves in knots as they try to figure out how their adversary could be continuing his reign of terror from inside an asylum. In Scotland Yard Hunts Dr Mabuse, Mabuse’s tentacles begin to creep across the English Channel. Finally, in The Death Ray of Dr Mabuse, the criminal mastermind comes to possess a weapon capable of unleashing untold destruction.

Directed by Fritz Lang, Harald Reinl (The Fellowship of the Frog), Werner Klingler (Police Raid), Paul May (Duel with Death) and Hugo Fregonese (Black Tuesday), the CCC Mabuse series continues Fritz Lang’s legacy while playing into a popular market taste in Germany for adaptations of literary krimis – or crime thrillers – that can also be seen in the enormous popularity of films based upon Edgar Wallace’s novels throughout the 1960s. The Masters of Cinema series is honoured to collect all six of the 1960s Mabuse films together in this set, presented in high definition from new 2K restorations and available for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited Collector's Edition Box Set [2000 copies]
Limited edition hardcase featuring new artwork by Tony Stella
A limited edition 60-page collector’s book featuring new notes on each film by journalist Holger Haase, a new essay by German film scholar Tim Bergfelder, an archival essay by David Cairns, archival writing by Fritz Lang and notes by Lotte Eisner on Lang’s final unreleased projects
1080p HD presentations of all six films from 2K restorations of the original film elements undertaken by CCC
Original German audio and optional English dubs on select films
Optional English subtitles
Region A/B
Archival audio commentary on The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse by film historian and author David Kalat
New audio commentaries on the other five films by film historian and author David Kalat
Mabuse Lives at CCC – New interview with producer and managing director of CCC Film Alice Brauner, daughter of CCC founder Artur Brauner
New introductions to each film by genre film expert and Video Watchdog founder Tim Lucas
Kriminology – new video essay by David Cairns & Fiona Watson
2002 interview with actor Wolfgang Preiss
Alternate endings for The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse and The Death Ray of Dr Mabuse
* All extras subject to change

[domino harvey]

Interesting! I still remember Kalat talking about the non-Lang Mabuse films on his original commentary for 1000 Eyes

[andyli]

Description says 2K restoration for all films. Newer transfer for Thousand Eyes?

[ChunkyLover]

I would be very surprised if Thousand Eyes wasn’t Eureka’s original BD (just now coded to be Region A-friendly).

[Finch]

Specs and cover added to OP.

[Dr Amicus]

Well, there’s a preorder from me. I’m particularly interested in these as my long favoured Scream and Scream Again often gets compared to them, indeed there’s a book on the Mabuse films which includes it along with other Mabuse adjacent works

[denti alligator]

Very tempting. But how good are the films? Extras alone seem worth the price, but still...

[domino harvey]

Holy hell, five new Kalat commentaries?!

[therewillbeblus]

Very tempting. But how good are the films?

I'm wondering the same - I adore Thousand Eyes, but are the rest similarly inventive and fun?

Anyways, my writeup of that one:

I'm overall mixed on Lang, and enjoy but am not in love with the original Mabuse films, but to my surprise The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was wonderful on just about every level. The key here is that Lang delves into full camp mode (the opening minutes involve Goldfinger as a lead detective reading a book titled Criminal Psychology before taking a call from a fortune-teller magician who ‘sees’ a crime). Lang’s knack for formalism and pacing strings together the nonstop, creative crime-fantasy into a tight, enthusiastic cinematic dimestore novel. Lang usually loses me when his films slow down to meditate on decorative dressing in performance or visual exposition that add unnecessary fat to an otherwise strong film, and none of that exists here because those pretentious poles don’t belong in this world. It’s pure shlock, but absurd adventures coated in masterful direction is cinematic exuberance. The plot moves through imaginative channels and with energy that recalled some of the most piercing and engaging noirs and wrong-man pictures of the 40s and 50s. There are clear noir tropes and yet it’s too eclectic in its mood to remain married to one genre. All the Lang-ian(?) interests are here: Nazis, cops, spies and skeptics; as well as insinuations that touch on history, psychology, society, and mysticism.

Lang’s camera knows no bounds, yet it's not erratic in its careful movements, following whatever direction is necessary to capture the significant details for a shot. There is voyeurism behind the camera and implemented into the story. There are paranoia thriller components that recall Rivette's most anxious characters in his early works though deliberately fulfilling those quotas here. Anti-paranoia is not what Land is after - just good, clean, validated fun. I love how at the end when the police report says the license plate number and the criminals change it, the radio immediate changes to “license plate unknown.” It’s such a silly, taunting goof, but is completely aligned with the constructive inauthenticity of the film. The deadpan facial expressions of the villains are perfect, and moments like this reminded me that my fears that this might turn into a overly didactic exercise could rest easy. Even the slimiest-seeming character falls into a last-minute deux ex machina, that mockingly gets tossed aside as a story for another day. All of these cushy scenes would be disrespectful to the audience if they were not entirely in step with Lang's humble divorcement from realism, including emotional authenticity. This is a shiny, flavorful ride, accentuating directoral flourishes to the max to cast rays of pleasure on every interaction, idea, and setpiece.

It's too bad that this was Lang's last film as director, as it's one of my favorites and a clear sign of finally abandoning the dead weight of his self-gratifying ideas in favor of pure lubricated cinema. I can't argue that it's an objectively "better" film than some of his celebrated masterpieces, but there is a loosening of ego and a devotion to amusement that make me smile.

[ryannichols7]

Holy hell, five new Kalat commentaries?!

immediate purchase for me. have never listened to a Kalat track I didn't find as entertaining as the film itself. between Kalat being involved so much and Nick Wrigley lending his wonderous talents to MoC again, I'm really enjoying this "comeback" period for the label. I mean they truly never left, but a lot of the recent touches really do feel like the label of old, in the best way possible.

I also think Tony Stella's art style fits these films really well

[Orlac]

I see CCC is still pretending they didn't make a Mabuse film with Jess Franco...hey, maybe Eureka could do a CCC/Franco box-set?

[domino harvey]

Not including a Franco film is the best bonus feature of all

[Banasa]

Outside Kalat's book on Mabuse, I recall trying to watch one of 60s Mabuse film and was kind of aghast at how bland I found it. That said, West Germany's popular film seems to have the critical reception seems to have the same following as the many sword and sandal films from Italy in the 50s and 60s. That said, the films were previously released on a truly low quality dvd set in the 2000s from Image Entertainment. DVDBeaver has a sampler of it here: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... ection.htm so these getting any sort of presentable release is a blessing for future generations to get bored with them.


I've been reading about Mabuse on trying to create an article on Wikipedia for Franco's Mabuse film.

Curiously, I found German sources stating that Brauner was dealt with a court proceedings in the 1990s over La venganza del Doctor Mabuse on whether or not Franco's film was a Dr. Mabuse film as he would have breached his contract if he was directly involved with the production as he was potentially avoiding paying the heirs of Norbert Jacques.

And Brauner won the case! This could potentially be why this Franco film might be in some sort of legal hot water in terms of licensing it.

[TMDaines]

Think this set will give me the impetus I need to finally rewatch the first three Mabuse films for the first time since I really got into film in 2009/2010. I will also undertake the Kalat-a-thon, for sure.