jpfisher

Hi,

I currently have the R1 Image release of Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler." I see that Kino has a new R1 release out next week and that Eureka! has an R2 version available as well. Can anyone who is familiar with the different versions of the film on disc be able to give some insight on which is "the best." Ignore special features, I am concerned about image quality and film content only -- I do have a region-free player, so going Eureka! would not bother me... I'm already planning on "upgrading" my other Lang silents to the Masters of Cinema versions in the near future.

Thanks.... and yes, I'm especially interested since DDD has it for half off right now.

Jim

pjflyer

I had the same thought yesterday.

DVDbeaver has a comparison up and they choose the Eureka disc.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...usegambler.htm

indy81

They chose the Eureka disc over the Image disc, but they haven't looked at the upcoming KINO disc yet. I imagine it will look similar to the Eureka disc (from the same restored print). Probably worth a double-dip for R1 folks like me, especially for $20 at DDD.

Ambassador

The new Kino will almost certainly be a port of the R2 Eureka, which means it will suffer from the usual PAL->NTSC problems (ghosting, etc.). Kino seems to be porting over all of the R2 extras, too, and they've done this before with other titles (like Metropolis and Spies). In general, I always recommend that you go with the original R2 DVDs. If you order from CD-Wow!, you'll often save a little money over the prices Kino charges.

siegfried

Woudn't it be nice if Kino cared enough to stop ripping us off.

marty888

If you don't buy their product, then that effectively stops them from "ripping you off".

If the R2 is really a much better PQ, I'll consider getting it - but I still would hang on to the Image release because the commentary tracks are terrific and are something I will want to revisit.

jpfisher

Thanks everyone... I didn't realize that the Eureka! version was also the 270 minute one... if it has ghosting similar to the Kino Metropolis I'll just go with the R2 disc.

illennium

Still no reviews of the Kino version? I thought either DVDTalk or DVDBeaver would come through on this. Anyone check out the new version yet?

siegfried

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dvd_review.asp?ID=971

Image / Sound
Kino on Video presents this definitive 270-minute edition of Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (taken from a 2000 restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung) over two discs in a 1.33:1 transfer plagued by prevalent ghosting and combing. This indicates the film was not mastered progressively from what is probably a PAL source. Par for the course for Kino, but what the purist in me particularly scoffs at is the exclusion of the film's German intertitles, replaced here—as on the company's other Lang releases—with redone English intertitles. Barring a film-projected screening, one should turn to the European home video company Eureka to see Dr. Mabuse, as well as other Lang films like Spies and Metropolis, in ideal presentations. The Kino image is still pleasant enough; certainly it is more crisp and robust than the prior, still-available 229-minute Region 1 release from Image Entertainment, a stellar effort for its time (mastered by film preservationist David Shepard) that also contains a superb commentary from Lang scholar David Kalat, which puts this set's meager extras to shame. Kino's only audio option, very well presented, is the wonderful, recently composed musical accompaniment by Aljoscha Zimmerman.

Extras
The only extra of note is an extremely dry 52-minute documentary entitled The Story Behind Dr. Mabuse, of primary interest for its interview with composer Aljoscha Zimmerman. The rest is all a dull succession of facts better stated elsewhere—see, among others, David Kalat's book The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse or Patrick McGilligan's Fritz Lang biography The Nature of the Beast. A Fritz Lang biography/filmography and notes on the film are spread out over several text pages. A behind-the-scenes/promotional photo gallery rounds out the disc.