Destiny (1921) aka Der müde Tod

Rating:
Summary: A Weary Death
Review: Destiny is not a particularly good title for Fritz Lang's Der Müde Tod. Translated literally the title means 'The Tired Death' and this is much better, for the film is about Death being tired of the work he has to perform. The figure of Death thus becomes a fairly sympathetic character trying desperately to help. When he is appealed to by a young woman who has just lost her fiancé, he gives her three chances to bring her beloved back from the dead. Lang shows a room full of candles each representing a human life and then shows three of these candles flickering and about to go out. The task that Death sets the young woman is to save any one of the three lives represented by the candles. Lang then shows the woman and her fiancé in three stories representing each of the candles. These stories are wonderfully imaginative and present vivid images of Persia, Renaissance Venice and China.

Lang's film is full of amazing special effects including a flying horse and flying carpet sequence which influenced Douglas Fairbanks when he made The Thief of Bagdad. However, it is the emotional atmosphere of the film which makes it truly memorable. Lang shows the desperation of the young woman and makes us care about her plight. But it is with his image of the compassionate Death that Lang really shows his originality. This is a Death wishing and willing to resurrect the dead and going as far as he can, because he cares about the woman and her fiancé also. Finally Death becomes a caring friend wrapping his arms around the couple. It is an ambiguous image, but one of great power.

The quality of the print used for this Image DVD is superb. It is colour tinted in a variety of shades and shows very little damage. This is a beautiful film and all the details of the amazing production-design can be seen and appreciated. There is some slight cropping of the film on the left hand side, but this is hardly noticeable. The credits and the title cards have been reconstructed and newly translated. The original fonts have been reproduced, which is fine, but it must be said that the Gothic typeface can be a little hard to read. Finally the film is accompanied by a fine score which fits in very well with the eerie mood of the film.

Rating:
Summary: A Weary Death
Review: Destiny is not a particularly good title for Fritz Lang's Der Müde Tod. Translated literally the title means 'The Tired Death' and this is much better, for the film is about Death being tired of the work he has to perform. The figure of Death thus becomes a fairly sympathetic character trying desperately to help. When he is appealed to by a young woman who has just lost her fiancé, he gives her three chances to bring her beloved back from the dead. Lang shows a room full of candles each representing a human life and then shows three of these candles flickering and about to go out. The task that Death sets the young woman is to save any one of the three lives represented by the candles. Lang then shows the woman and her fiancé in three stories representing each of the candles. These stories are wonderfully imaginative and present vivid images of Persia, Renaissance Venice and China.

Lang's film is full of amazing special effects including a flying horse and flying carpet sequence which influenced Douglas Fairbanks when he made The Thief of Bagdad. However, it is the emotional atmosphere of the film which makes it truly memorable. Lang shows the desperation of the young woman and makes us care about her plight. But it is with his image of the compassionate Death that Lang really shows his originality. This is a Death wishing and willing to resurrect the dead and going as far as he can, because he cares about the woman and her fiancé also. Finally Death becomes a caring friend wrapping his arms around the couple. It is an ambiguous image, but one of great power.

The quality of the print used for this Image DVD is superb. It is colour tinted in a variety of shades and shows very little damage. This is a beautiful film and all the details of the amazing production-design can be seen and appreciated. There is some slight cropping of the film on the left hand side, but this is hardly noticeable. The credits and the title cards have been reconstructed and newly translated. The original fonts have been reproduced, which is fine, but it must be said that the Gothic typeface can be a little hard to read. Finally the film is accompanied by a fine score which fits in very well with the eerie mood of the film.

Rating:
Summary: A Groundbreaking Work of Early Expressionist Cinema
Review: Destiny is not a particularly good title for Fritz Lang's Der Müde Tod. Translated literally the title means `The Tired Death' and this is much better, for the film is about Death being tired of the work he has to perform. The figure of Death thus becomes a fairly sympathetic character trying desperately to help. When he is appealed to by a young woman who has just lost her fiancé, he gives her three chances to bring her beloved back from the dead. Lang shows a room full of candles each representing a human life and then shows three of these candles flickering and about to go out. The task that Death sets the young woman is to save any one of the three lives represented by the candles. Lang then shows the woman and her fiancé in three stories representing each of the candles. These stories are wonderfully imaginative and present vivid images of Persia, Renaissance Venice and China.

Lang's film is full of amazing special effects including a flying horse and flying carpet sequence which influenced Douglas Fairbanks when he made The Thief of Bagdad. However, it is the emotional atmosphere of the film which makes it truly memorable. Lang shows the desperation of the young woman and makes us care about her plight. But it is with his image of the compassionate Death that Lang really shows his originality. This is a Death wishing and willing to resurrect the dead and going as far as he can, because he cares about the woman and her fiancé also. Finally Death becomes a caring friend wrapping his arms around the couple. It is an ambiguous image, but one of great power.

The quality of the print used for this Image DVD is superb. It is colour tinted in a variety of shades and shows very little damage. This is a beautiful film and all the details of the amazing production-design can be seen and appreciated. There is some slight cropping of the film on the left hand side, but this is hardly noticeable. The credits and the title cards have been reconstructed and newly translated. The original fonts have been reproduced, which is fine, but it must be said that the Gothic typeface can be a little hard to read. Finally the film is accompanied by a fine score which fits in very well with the eerie mood of the film.

Rating:
Summary: Best print I've seen of this one.
Review: I've only ever found really poor quality, often chopped up versions of this early Lang film (Der Mude Tod is original title), but this DVD looks fantastic. The film itself is pretty unique, worth watching, but not a masterpiece, especially in light of Lang's other achievements. The music by the Mont Alto Orchestra is well done - I saw these guys perform live to Harold Lloyd's "Kid Brother" and they did a great job. Check 'em out live if you can!

Rating:
Summary: Best print I've seen of this one.
Review: I've only ever found really poor quality, often chopped up versions of this early Lang film (Der Mude Tod is original title), but this DVD looks fantastic. The film itself is pretty unique, worth watching, but not a masterpiece, especially in light of Lang's other achievements. The music by the Mont Alto Orchestra is well done - I saw these guys perform live to Harold Lloyd's "Kid Brother" and they did a great job. Check 'em out live if you can!

Rating:
Summary: A Groundbreaking Work of Early Expressionist Cinema
Review: Image has earned itself a reputation for high quality, digitally remastered DVD editions of films from the silent era (though, admittedly, they do have a few dismal releases to their name), and their growing catalogue of early Expressionist cinema is particularly exciting. The present DVD edition of this early Fritz Lang film features yet another outstanding transfer, digitally remastered from a 35mm fine grain master print of the French reissue version. Moreover the transfer preserves the film's original "square" aspect ratio with vertical black bars and a horizontal bar at the bottom of the frame (in other words, there is either NO or very minimal cropping). In addition, as already highlighted in other reviews, this Image release provides newly translated English intertitles, some of which were missing in previous versions, and which reproduce the font of the original titles. My only complaint with this Image release is that it is a barebones edition, which shows not just in the absence of audio commentary (which I can live without, as long as the transfer is good), but in the clumsy menu options and scene access, as well as in the austere packaging. These concerns, however, are quite peripheral.

With respect to the film itself, a previous reviewer has provided a marvelous narrative and thematic exposition of the film which I will not bother to repeat. Though one of Lang's lesser known works, Destiny is a truly groundbreaking and highly poetic piece of cinema. As with Ingmar Bergman's THE SEVENTH SEAL, Fritz Lang's DESTINY (Der Mude Tod) succeeds in remythologizing familiar allegories and symbols of death and infusing them anew with eloquence and expressive force. Bunuel's confession that this film opened his eyes to "the poetic expressiveness of cinema" is not in the least bit hyperbolic

In sum, I highly recommend this DVD edition.