British distributors Eureka Entertainment have officially announced that they will release on Blu-ray Fritz Lang's
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922). 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. Street date is October 28th.
In addition to the standard release, Eureka Entertainment will also have available for sale a Limited Edition SteelBook Edition of
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. See our listing
here.
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.
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