Hard to follow but worth a try: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

 Fritz Lang's 1933 film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, is a follow-up to his 4-hour classic from the "silent era," Dr. Mabuse - the Gambler, which I haven't seen and probably never will. Too bad, as it no doubt would have cleared some of the confusion I experienced as I tried to make sense of The Testament. I couldn't, though the fault may be mind. And even w/out following all the nuances of the plot - two police officers (a "commissioner" or chief and his somewhat comical assistant) are engaged in trying to solve a murder, which it turns out leads them and their forces to a crime cult that follows the suggestions and strategies scribbled out in hand by Dr. M, imprisoned in a mental hospital. There's love-story element as well! Even w/out following the plot details - which I may get more from if/when watch the Criterion Channel "commentary" version - there are many aspects of The Testament that still impress; it laid the groundwork for many police procedural movies (the banter between the two lead investigators, the young officer trying to prove himself to win the girl and to rescue her from danger) as well as some terrific scenes that seemed to me well ahead of their era for structure, timing, and craft: the weirdness of Dr. M scribbling endlessly in his hospital cell; the hero and his "gal" caught in a room with water rising toward the ceiling (this was done not so long ago in Titanic), the strange sequences in which the crime-syndicate leader orders his men about while concealed behind a drapery (Wizard of Oz, anyone?), and most of all a night-time car chase crossing several rr tracks. The downside, however, is some stilted acting with gestures and expressions so broad and static - remnants of filmmaking among the silents.