The Testament Of Dr Mabuse [DVD] [1933] - Region 2 DVD

Though it works best as a textbook thriller, some commentators, including Lang, suggested that the pulp plot was intended to allegorise the evil influence of the Nazi party, with a crime boss who rants like Hitler. The many impressive set-pieces still work, too: the pursuit of a spy through a grinding print-works, an assassination at a traffic light, hero and heroine trapped in a room with a bomb and cutting a water main to flood their way to freedom, the persecution of the asylum head by a phantom of his patient, and a last-reel night-time chase.

On the DVD: The Testament of Dr Mabuse on disc is accompanied by a 15-minute illustrated essay on the film and its history. There are English subtitles. --Kim Newman