MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘German Suspense Cinema’ Provides Some Surprises : The Goethe-Institut has put together a series of crime films from a country not often associated with the genre.

England has everyone from Sherlock Holmes to Miss Marple, America boasts Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe, even modest Sweden can claim the somber Martin Beck. But try and think of a celebrated German detective and you’ll probably end up agreeing with George Bernard Shaw when he said, “The Germans lack talent for two things: revolution and crime novels.”

In an attempt to prove Shaw wrong and to corral the notoriously sensation-hungry American movie audience, the prestigious Goethe-Institut German cultural center has put together a pleasantly unexpected series that opens tonight at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Leo S. Bing Theater. “Out of the Dark: Crime, Mystery & Suspense in the German Cinema 1913-1992” does all that, and perhaps even a little bit more.

According to Prof. Eric Rentschler, director of the film studies program at UC Irvine and a consultant on the series, most people think of arty items such as “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and “Metropolis” when they think about German film. “But during the Weimar era alone, an average of 200 to 300 films were produced every year, and not all of those were art films. This series shows there is a German popular cinema and reclaims it for German film history.”

And for audiences tired of the usual fare both on movie screens and in most video stores, “Out of the Dark” offers an opportunity to see something new and different. Many of the films scheduled had never been seen in the United States until this series was put together, and German silent films, many of which were melted down for silver by the wartime Nazi regime, have always been notoriously difficult to view.

To judge by the films made available for early screening, “Out of the Dark” presents the widest possible gamut, from acknowledged classics and atmospheric silents to expertly crafted, almost unknown films from the Nazi era and silly items from after the war that would be better off staying unknown.

The series’ classics, “M” and “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse,” were both directed by Fritz Lang in the early 1930s and are splendid examples of filmmaking from the first days of sound.

“M” (screening on Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. with “High-School Diploma,” a TV film directed by Wolfgang Petersen) was one of the first and perhaps the best role of Peter Lorre’s career. Directed by Lang in a style that is both expressionistic and realistic, its based-on-fact story tells of a murderer of children who is trapped not by the police but by the outraged criminal underworld.

“The Testament of Dr. Mabuse” (screening on Jan. 29 at 1 and 8 p.m. with “The Spirit,” a futuristic 1990 film about the use of computers in crime fighting) is a wildly dramatic sequel to Lang’s earlier “Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.” It deals with a mad criminal genius who wanted to rule the world, and as such was not surprisingly banned by the Nazi regime soon after Lang fled to Hollywood.

The series opens today at 1 and 8 p.m. with a trio of early silent films, “Where Is Coletti” (said to offer great views of Berlin), “The Man in the Cellar” and “The Dead Awaken,” all accompanied by Robert Israel at the organ.

“The Man in the Cellar” was the first of several films to detail the exploits of master detective Stuart Webbs, a Sherlock Holmes knockoff who was given to disguising himself as an electrician when things got sticky. Here called in to investigate reports of a whimpering dog (it must have been a slow crime day), Webbs is soon up to his stiff upper lip in all kinds of nefarious activities. The film includes some wonderful use of light and shadow in a surprisingly good print.

More silent films, with Israel accompaniment, are on tap for Saturday night at 8, including “The Striped Domino,” “The Bear of the Baskerville” (which is said to feature a giant bear standing guard duty at a Baroness’ villa) and, as a special treat, 1925’s “The Devil’s Reporter.” The story of a newspaperman who wants to make his reputation by solving the kidnaping of 13 American heiresses, “Reporter” was one of the first films written by the great Billy Wilder.

“The Frog With the Mask” (screening on Jan. 15 at 1 and 8 p.m. with “Kamikaze,” co-directed by and starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder) has perhaps the best title in the festival but little else to recommend it. Based on a novel by the prolific Edgar Wallace, it pits a sinister amphibian-like criminal against a wealthy American amateur detective who is given to saying things like, “I might have known it was another frog job.” Dubbed into English and made like Flash Gordon was still fighting Ming the Merciless.

The series’ example of popular entertainment from the days of the Third Reich turns out to be a cracker-jack psychological thriller, 1942’s “Dr. Crippen on Board” (screening on Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. with “The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes”).

Directed by police procedural specialist Erich Engels and starring the coolly detached Rudolf Fernau, “Dr. Crippen,” though a crime film, takes place in a never-never land where men always wear tuxedos and women luxuriate in ball gowns. Based on a true story, it details the disappearance of Dr. Crippen’s glamorous wife, followed by the absence both of the doctor and his comely assistant. Where did they go, how can they be found, has any crime been committed and how can it be proved? A brisk and highly entertaining piece of business.

Although almost all the German-language films are subtitled, one that isn’t sounds like a real pip. “Killer” (screening Jan. 30 at 8 p.m.) is described in the program notes as a “hilariously funny comedy about two housewives’ attempt to increase their budget by working as hired killers.” Even George Bernard Shaw doubtless would have enjoyed that one.