Practicalmadness

I’ve been spending too many hours (most of them while sleeping) tuned to Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse, the Fritz Lang film where the rise of Nazism was used as an excuse to resurrect not one but two of Lang’s favorite characters: the supercriminal Mabuse (pictured), and Lohmann, the portly, cigar-chomping superdetective from M.

Clearly, out of sheer boredom, this character needed to be pitted against the nefarious Dr. Mabuse (pronounced Ma-BOO-sa), who apparently has super-powers and can plot attacks on Depression-era Germany’s already shaky financial system from beyond the grave.

I’ve lost count of how many times something like this happens in the movie:

LOHMANN: Hallo! Ist Lohmann!

BAD GUY: Lohmann??

LOHMANN: Ja, ist Lohmann!

BAD GUY: LOHMANN!! MEIN GOTT!!! AAAAAAAGGHHH!!!

The disc is Criterion’s new edition, with a psychedelic cover and an excellent commentary by David Kalat, who wrote a book on Lang’s Mabuse cycle and who sounds really authoritative on a commentary track.

Like the SAIC teacher who first turned me onto the film, Kalat focuses primarily on Lang’s use of sound and editing, while adding in the historical facts about the rise of Nazism, and some historical lies about Lang having been approached by Goebbels to head the German film industry.

If anything, it’s worth the price of admission to see Lohmann say

If I’m on the right track…I’m gonna get high as a kite tonight!

while pounding his fists on the table in excitement.