It's a brave man who attempts to remake a cinema classic as distinctive as Fritz Lang's silent thriller Dr Mabuse the Gambler. But French director Claude Chabrol makes a thoroughly decent attempt to capture the spirit of the original in the story of mass hypnosis leading thousands of Berliners to take their own lives. True, there are a few giggles towards the end, when silliness breaks free of the reins of suspense, but so might there be if the original were shown today. The cast is largely continental (Austria's Jan Niklas is the designer-stubbled policeman hero), but a few more familiar faces are scattered around too, notably Alan Bates as the arch-villain behind it all, Jennifer Beals as the instrument of his city-wide domination and (blink and you miss him) Andrew McCarthy as an assassin. Alexander Radszun is also striking as a traitor within police ranks. Sometimes slow, but always shot through with imagination, the film, despite its faults, is breezy adult fun.


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