MovieChat Forums > Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1943) Discussion > That must have been one hell of a water ...

That must have been one hell of a water bill!

posted 14 years ago by spirit_30
11 replies | jump to latest

I can just see the expression on the face of who ever had to pay the water bill to fill up that room. :D

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] spirit_30 14 years ago

I would have thought as the characters did of the water protecting them from the force of the blast. How can it magnify the effect I don't understand that ... the water pressure and the explosion together perhaps?

As far as the holes in the floor that's why I said it must have been one hell of a water bill filling up those holes and the room! I can imagine the look on the owners face when he got the water bill ... Unless it belong to the professor.

And the small hole created ... well I wouldn't want to find out if it would kill me.

But it was a good film ... I did enjoy it.

[–] jtyroler 13 years ago

Well, they had to film that twice - once for the German language version and again for the French language version with different actors. The hole in the floor after the explosion seems to be the same, so I'm not sure if they filled the room up once and alternated the pairs of actors or shot it once for the German version and again for the French. When the water starts draining, both sets of actors have to hold on to the curtain to prevent getting sucked into the drainage. The French language version shows the explosion twice - once like the German version and again from a slightly different angle.

[–] spirit_30 13 years ago

LOL no no ... I didn't mean the production cost of the water ... I was referring within the story. I was just picturing who ever own the building in the story ... it could have belong to the professor ... I vision someone else though getting his water bill in the mail opening it and seeing some large figure with a shocked expression wondering what the ...

Ha Ha ... that's what I was thinking. :)

[–] JackBluegrass 11 years ago

As I looked at that room, it appeared that the water line had been connected to a urinal. That looked like a Lang joke on his audience. No character in the movie makes any reference to what was there before.

The appliance had been removed but the wall had been painted after plumbing installation, showing outline of a urinal. Also points of fixation of the plumbing to the wall are visible.

And, why was there still water under pressure in the pipe, and the pipe not purged of water?

Not sure of where the drain was.

[–] spirit_30 11 years ago

Good question ... perhaps there were other places nearby that still used the water. That's the only thing I can think of.

[–] fbergeot-1 10 years ago

If you need a technical explanation you can imagine that the pipe was connected to another one abovehead and easier shut off than removed after the appliance had gone. By the way, that appliance was probably not a urinal but a sink of the kind expected to be found in a workshop or a cellar.

[–] spirit_30 10 years ago

Not according to the commentary with the film ... the urinal was suppose to be some kind of joke on Lang's part.

[–] fbergeot-1 10 years ago

That's one reason why I don't agree with the commentary. Moreover this kind of joke doesn't seem to fit with the film.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Jes' Sayin' (5948) 5 months ago

Back in those days a lot of people paid for water on a monthly flat rate.