Dr. M is a 1990 update of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films, directed by Frenchman Claude Chabrol. Dystopian and pre-millennial, it's about a suicide epidemic in Berlin, and the mystery of who―or what―is causing it. Despite the director and the setting, the dialogue is in English, and the print I was watching on YouTube has Spanish subtitles. How's that for international?
While the premise is somewhat science fictional, everything in the movie looks beat up and used, the technology defiantly Watergate era. That's the most interesting aspect. The least interesting part of the movie is...almost everything else. It just doesn't work at all. The story is dull and the stubbly lead detective spends a ridiculous amount of time at suspect Jennifer Beals's apartment, just kvetching at her.
Ah well, happens to the best of us. I'd enjoyed the other two Chabrol films I'd seen, La Rupture and Merci Pour le Chocolat. The latter is excellent, and was made about a decade later than Dr. M. It's heartening to know that he didn't lose his touch, just got sidetracked.
2 comments:
I've read about Fritz Lang's Dr Mabuse but haven seen it, but from what I've gathered the main problem would be trying to make sense of the doctor. Evil for its own sake seems to be what motivated him over the course of the four hour movie. Of course, perhaps evil was what Claude Chabrol was aiming for and didn't quite make the grade. After reading your post we decided to check out Dr Mabuse, not the original 1922 film, but the last one he made, The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. Made in 1960 it was a pretty good copy we watched on youtube, in English too, even though the story was kind of lame. The characters were good enough it was fun watching the plot develope and wondering which if any were Dr. Mabuse.
The only other Fritz Lang film we've seen, and more than once, was Metropolis, an amazing achievement even without sound recording being available. It sounds as if Chabrol was a bit overambitious in taking on the Dr. Mabuse legend. Of course so did Fritz Lang by 1960. Some stories can't be topped and one of these days we'll watch that first one.
Anyway, I'm glad to know Chabrol's later movies were of higher quality. He's not a director whose work we're familiar with.
While it was a while ago, but I believe the one Lang Mabuse film I've seen is The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, from 1933. I don't know if he meant to portray evil for its own sake or just an evil whose other motives are beyond understanding. Of course Testament was made just before Hitler took power in the country where it was made, so evil will lie heavy on the mind of just about anyone who sees it. I've always assumed that Lang made up the character, but he actually comes from a series of novels by a Luxembourgian author named Norbert Jacques. You learn something new every day.
One other Lang film I've seen is The Blue Gardenia. From well after when he moved to Hollywood, it's a fun film noir. Has an interesting cast, too. Raymond Burr is a creepy guy who gets murdered, George "Superman" Reeves is the chief of police, and Nat King Cole makes a special musical appearance as himself.
Dr. M is from the near-future apocalypse subgenre that would soon get very popular (e.g. Strange Days.) Maybe he found that it just wasn't his thing.
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