MovieChat Forums > Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922) Discussion > Who Stuffed the Ballot-Box?

Who Stuffed the Ballot-Box?

posted 13 years ago by Doctor_Mabuse1
12 replies | jump to latest

Almost three-hundred 1-Star votes for a Fritz Lang masterpiece? I'm amazed that so very many users are so well-versed in German silent cinema to be able to make such a profoundly negative assessment. Methinks some ignorant idiot has been abusing multiple accounts to trash a classic.

Update: Oops, I see the same thing is going on over at Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), which film has been made to appear especially unpopular with women.

Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime

[–] Squeeth2 13 years ago

I wouldn't take any of that American pipqueakery seriously if I were you.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] sjokki-844-451298 13 years ago

Sadly this happens with a lot of non-US classics. Have a look at the ratings of Cabiria, 33 percent voted one.

[–] HulotderSpeiler 13 years ago

Cabiria had coherency issues, so I think only the viewer paying the closest attention will get what's going on (unfortunately, not me at the time I saw it). I can easily see how someone could consider Cabiria an ugly mess, although I had to respect it purely for it's visuals and intricacy at least.

black and white movies were better

[–] nammage 8 years ago

Actually...no. This happens to a lot of films on here, period. Doesn't matter where it's from.

The #1 top 250 movie on here is The Shawshank Redemption. It has 29,178 1/10.

Why? It's not that that many people think it's that bad, it's that many of those people believe The Godfather should be #1. Incidentally, The Godfather has 32,430 1/10. Do you think that's a true number?

You can take almost any random film on here and find similar results. Whether "American" or not.

-Nam

I am on the road less traveled...

[–] mjlangenbru 13 years ago

I love Fritz Lang, especially the newest restoration of Metropolis and of course M. I havent seen the Mabuse classics yet and I want to see those 3 Lang films next. Still I am not surprised that some 12% of people ranked it as a 1. With almost all classic films you will see an obscenely high number of low rankings, however you will also notice nearly 2/3 of voters gave this film an 8 or better including more than 1/5 of voters giving it a perfect 10. Considering that this film is listed as being nearly 5 hours long, was made 90 years ago, is in black and white, and was a german silent film, it doesnt surprise me one bit that it gets some low marks from viewers. I am sure some people wont like the film for those very reasons. And yet it garners nearly an 8 ranking despite all of those things holding it back meaning it must be quite a film.

[–] HulotderSpeiler 13 years ago

But who would even find it? I can understand someone not watching it because it is silent and almost 5 hours long, but who would bother to track down this film and watch it without being a fan of Lang or German cinima, and therefore having a predispostion to liking it? I can also say that this is my favorite Lang film, having seen almost all of them, and the greatest silent movie ever made, having seen about 50 of them.

black and white movies were better

[–] Doctor_Mabuse1 13 years ago

<<...who would bother to track down this film and watch it without being a fan of Lang or German cinima, and therefore having a predispostion to liking it?>>

My point exactly.

<<Or maybe three hundred people didn't like the movie.>>

Or maybe not. It is absurdly unlikely that the vast majority of IMDb users who voted on such an acknowledged cinema landmark approached it unprepared. This is an act of troll-generated malice.

Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime

[–] mikaeel 13 years ago

or maybe three hundred people didn't like the movie

[–] giordana_01 13 years ago

The way I understand it, some movie "fans" are so eager to get their favorites to rise to the top of the IMDB ratings that they not only vote high ratings to their favorites, but give low star ratings to any film classic that stands in its way, whether they've seen them or not. Many probably create multiple accounts to do this.

[–] jtyroler 13 years ago

I wouldn't be too surprised if that is what is going on. Some of the highest ranked movies on IMDb.com are not in the same echelon as some of the truly classic films. "The Dark Knight" probably isn't on any critic's Top 10 list of all time films, but it's currently #9 here. "Back to the Future"? "Pan's Labyrinth"? "Inglorious Basterds"? "Up"? "Sin City"? These are all in IMDb's Top 250.

I'm not saying that it has to be an old film to be great or deserve a 10, but does anyone think 2009's "Star Trek", "Monsters, Inc.", or "Ratatouille" is equal to "The Battle of Algiers", "8 1/2", "Dial M For Murder", "The Exorcist", "The Passion of Joan of Arc", or "Manhattan"? These all currently have a rating of 8, as does "Nights of Cabiria", "Rope", and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

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