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Fritz Lang -- Spies/M
Other // Unrated
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"Spies", Fritz Lang's silent-film follow-up to the classic "Metropolis", tells the story of a James Bond-like agent whose assignment is to disable a ring of spies, but has to deal with a Bond-style spy romance and the megalomaniacal leader of the ring.
"M", among Lang's most famous works and one of Peter Lorre's first feature-film roles, features a hunt for a child murderer so intense that the local criminals can't conduct their 'business'. These criminals organize and hunt for the murderer themselves...
Video: Both films are presented in their original full-frame form. "Spies", perhaps the best looking film in the entire Europa Theatre Series, looks sharper than most, and the dust and specks, though certainly present, are far less overwhelming than in most of the other discs in the series. I did notice some ghosting in the text, though. "M" doesn't look near as nice as "Spies" though, and it is the only DVD I've seen where there are visible compression artifacts around the text in the credits and the on-screen subtitles. Possibly mastered from a public domain VHS copy?
Audio: The music in "Spies", a silent film, sounds quite nice for a mono track. "M", on the other hand, is full of hiss and a bit of distortion, and it has a somewhat muddy-quality about it. Subtitles are thankfully included.
Supplements: No supplements related to either film are included, although a battered Felix the Cat cartoon (with a soft, poorly-defined image and atrocious audio, full of drop-outs) is included as part of the double feature. A nice booklet is included with the disc as well.
Conclusion: Both "Spies" and "M" are spectacular films, and although the versions presented here are watchable, "M" doesn't come close to the spectacularly restored Criterion release. Currently, "Spies" is not available elsewhere on DVD, and those interested in buying the disc solely for "Spies" likely won't be disappointed. The running time of "M" on the package is incorrect; this is the full 98- minute cut. The quality (and unavailability elsewhere) of "Spies" makes this disc easier to recommend than others in the Europa Theatre series.
"M", among Lang's most famous works and one of Peter Lorre's first feature-film roles, features a hunt for a child murderer so intense that the local criminals can't conduct their 'business'. These criminals organize and hunt for the murderer themselves...
Video: Both films are presented in their original full-frame form. "Spies", perhaps the best looking film in the entire Europa Theatre Series, looks sharper than most, and the dust and specks, though certainly present, are far less overwhelming than in most of the other discs in the series. I did notice some ghosting in the text, though. "M" doesn't look near as nice as "Spies" though, and it is the only DVD I've seen where there are visible compression artifacts around the text in the credits and the on-screen subtitles. Possibly mastered from a public domain VHS copy?
Audio: The music in "Spies", a silent film, sounds quite nice for a mono track. "M", on the other hand, is full of hiss and a bit of distortion, and it has a somewhat muddy-quality about it. Subtitles are thankfully included.
Supplements: No supplements related to either film are included, although a battered Felix the Cat cartoon (with a soft, poorly-defined image and atrocious audio, full of drop-outs) is included as part of the double feature. A nice booklet is included with the disc as well.
Conclusion: Both "Spies" and "M" are spectacular films, and although the versions presented here are watchable, "M" doesn't come close to the spectacularly restored Criterion release. Currently, "Spies" is not available elsewhere on DVD, and those interested in buying the disc solely for "Spies" likely won't be disappointed. The running time of "M" on the package is incorrect; this is the full 98- minute cut. The quality (and unavailability elsewhere) of "Spies" makes this disc easier to recommend than others in the Europa Theatre series.
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