This should be a lesson to the movie makers of today who have at their disposal a range of special effects other directors never had, but they use them for moronic ideas. Der Mude Tod is amazing not for its camera tricks (such as double exposure) or for their filters that give the image a certain tint to make it more revealing, but for the brilliant use of these techniques in order to achieve an aesthetic ideal. German expressionism started to fascinate me after seeing The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, and then I went on to see some other movies that are loosely gathered under this label. Der mude Tod may not be as spectacular as Metrtopolis but it has the power to work on many levels as well. It's hard to place this in a genre, the IMDb thought it a fantasy but it is clearly more, it's romance, drama, and even a thriller in some moments. The story is a perfect example of the expressive possibilities of cinema, as the lead characters are used in three different stories connected in a larger fourth story. Just like Dr. Caligari there's more than meets the eye with the movie even if it does get a bit childish sometimes. Speaking of which, I think that the sets are constructed as if from the imagination of a child, they are definitely not "historically accurate". This goes to show you that producers today waste their money on accuracy leaving aside storytelling and good film making. And this is for the worst. And speaking of producers it is really a pity that when he came in America Lang made all those noirs and westerns. Some of them are good, because the direction is generally well done, but I think Lang could have used his talents on better scripts.