Dr M * (1990, Alan Bates, Jennifer Beals, Jan Niklas) – Classic Movie Review 9873

Director Claude Chabrol’s 1990 German, Italian, French sci-fi policier/ futuristic thriller Dr M [Club Extinction], an homage to Fritz Lang’s Dr Mabuse, The Gambler (1922), goes awry, but it does maintain a slight level of interest despite almost total miscasting and the problems of the Euro production.

In the future, Berlin cop Lieutenant Claus Hartman (Jan Niklas) probes strange media magnate doctor Heinrich Marsfeldt (Alan Bates), who is indoctrinating holidaymakers to commit suicide by hypnosis.

It is sad to find the great Chabrol making a film that is so unconvincing, but then it is completely off his home ground.

It is one of the brief wave of films that year that sparked off the term ‘Euro-pudding’ among kinder critics and ‘Euro-trash’ among others.

Also in the cast are Jennifer Beals, Hanns Zischler, Benoît Régent, Alexander Radszun, William Berger, Peter Fitz, Daniela Poggi, Michael Degen, Andrew McCarthy (as assassin), Isolde Barth, Tobias Hoesl, Béatrice Macola and Wolfgang Preiss.

Dr M is written by Sollace Mitchell, based on an original story by Thomas Bauermeister and a novel by Norbert Jacques, adapted by Claude Chabrol.

Its failure is all the more frustrating as good ideas abound, and Chabrol had a serious purpose: ‘Dr M stresses the fact that we are continuously manipulated, and that political speak has invaded every circle. This is why, faced with steely-hearted strategy experts and computer brains, I hope that my film will be stimulating, since it does homage to lucidity as our only defensive weapon.’

Its ambitions and serious of purpose, the Berlin, Germany, filming locations and the production design by Wolfgang Hundhammer and Dante Ferretti are on its side.

Dr M is directed by Claude Chabrol, runs 116 minutes, is made by NEF Filmproduktion, Ellepi Film, Cléa Productions, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), La Sept and Telefilm Saar, is released by Pyramide Distribution (1990) (France), Jugendfilm-Verleih (1990) and Hobo, is written by Sollace Mitchell, based on an original story by Thomas Bauermeister and a novel by Norbert Jacques, adapted by Claude Chabrol, is shot by Jean Rabier, is produced by Hans Brockmann, François Duplat, Christoph Holch,Konstantin Thoeren and Ingrid Windisch, is scored by Paul Hindemith, and designed by Wolfgang Hundhammer and Dante Ferretti.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9873

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