Babylon Berlin Seasons 1 & 2

If you are a fan of film noir, one that has excellent ensemble acting, excellent storylines, excellent production, and excellent cinematography, then this German television series is the answer to a prayer.Film noir aficionado and scholar Eddie Muller will love this rain drenched, dark, strange, quirky, and blood soaked look at Wehrmacht Berlin in 1929.Gereon Rath, a detective from Cologne, is a twitchy German Elliot Ness type with a murky past.But Rath doesn’t have the bravado of a Ness. He has his own self doubts, psychological hang ups, and inner demons that keep him teetering on the edge of physically shutting down.At any rate, Rath is called to big, bad, jazzy Berlin to help unravel a twisted tale involving the manufacture of pornography that leads to blackmail and murder.The story also involves trafficking in substandard alcoholic beverages, compromised politicians, various factions of Russian anarchists planning mayhem in Germany and, of course, a long string of gristly murders.There’s also an ambitious young woman named Charlotte Ritter from a crushingly poor family from the slums. She lands a job with the police department cataloging photos of murder victims while moonlighting at night as a cabaret dancer and call girl.Charlotte has a razor sharp mind and she’s enterprising. She plans to rise above her humble home life and aspires to one day become a police detective and not a typist. If so, she would become the first woman police detective in Berlin.Rath, the straight laced detective, also has a softer and sometimes lighter side. He likes to unwind when he hears a hot jazz band in a Berlin dive. Rath is a noir character who defies stereotyping.This is without a doubt one unique television series, and it adds up to first rate entertainment.I recommend this Kino Lorber edition because it is the German version with English subtitles. Netflix is airing an English dubbed version of this series and that seems like sacrilege to me.

This German mini-series is being sold as a murder mystery offering along the lines of MHZ Network. This is quite misleading. If you’re thinking - as I did - of something along the lines of “Midsomer,” “Montalbano,” or “Blood On The Vine,” well, forget it ‘cause “Babylon Berlin” ain’t it. Instead it is a lavishly produced series of multiple plots with too many unpleasant characters set in 1929 Berlin. If you’re thinking “wicked” Weimar Republic excesses along the lines of “Cabaret,” scratch that one out too. This is a bleak, depressing outing that concentrates instead on abject poverty, corruption on all levels of society, political intrigues both from within and abroad (there’s a Soviet subplot), all told with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. There is not one single character I cared about. And this is not any “film noir” either. In that category, the hero may be flawed, but he’s never an idiot. The leading man in “Babylon” is so inept he inspires contempt (he loses his gun during a chase, at another point, a suspect manages to take away the same gun with grim results, and, later, this detective latches on to a grasping hand jutting out of a speeding car so he’s almost run over in doing so). This would be okay if it were Inspector Clouseau, but this mini-series is supposed to be very serious stuff. The leading lady is a child from the slums who works part time for the police department, but at night slums as an S&M prostitute. And so on. By the time a Trotskyite conspirator escapes death by plunging inside the lower depths of a latrine - if you get my drift - the camera literally dollies inside the toilet opening, then they cut to the man below, sunk in excrement all the way to his neck, all in living HD and Wide Screen, I was ready to call it quits. And this takes place at the end of Series One, Episode Two! This is the kind of ugly material only the very embittered enjoy. I gave it Two Stars for the production values and the expert use of CGI. Thirty-five bucks... the mind reels...

i actually don't like "cop shows" of any sort, but i was drawn to this because of the way it is filmed and also because i am fascinated by the history of berlin in the 1920s and 1930s. this is fantastic. each character becomes fully developed and the interplay between them is believable. the cinematography is outstanding, each frame is a work of art. oh, and the music! wow. the subtitles are spot on and after awhile i started to remember all the german i had taken in school years ago. once in a while i would google something to help me further understand the historical significance of a moment in the film and i appreciate that the film has that added dimension (history!). i know in time we'll want to watch this again because it is savory as far as art goes. buyer beware, if nudity and vice are difficult themes for you, this series is somewhat centered on that.

"Babylon Berlin" is a superbly produced, directed, and acted series. For those who watch German-language films and TV, there will be countless familiar faces throughout the episodes. Very impressed.

It is smooth continue of 1st one.Maybe even better.

Great service, great price.

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