Image has earned itself a reputation for high quality, digitally remastered DVD editions of films from the silent era (though, admittedly, they do have a few dismal releases to their name), and their growing catalogue of early Expressionist cinema is particularly exciting. The present DVD edition of this early Fritz Lang film features yet another outstanding transfer, digitally remastered from a 35mm fine grain master print of the French reissue version. Moreover the transfer preserves the film's original "square" aspect ratio with vertical black bars and a horizontal bar at the bottom of the frame (in other words, there is either NO or very minimal cropping). In addition, as already highlighted in other reviews, this Image release provides newly translated English intertitles, some of which were missing in previous versions, and which reproduce the font of the original titles. My only complaint with this Image release is that it is a barebones edition, which shows not just in the absence of audio commentary (which I can live without, as long as the transfer is good), but in the clumsy menu options and scene access, as well as in the austere packaging. These concerns, however, are quite peripheral.
With respect to the film itself, a previous reviewer has provided a marvelous narrative and thematic exposition of the film which I will not bother to repeat. Though one of Lang's lesser known works, Destiny is a truly groundbreaking and highly poetic piece of cinema. As with Ingmar Bergman's THE SEVENTH SEAL, Fritz Lang's DESTINY (Der Mude Tod) succeeds in remythologizing familiar allegories and symbols of death and infusing them anew with eloquence and expressive force. Bunuel's confession that this film opened his eyes to "the poetic expressiveness of cinema" is not in the least bit hyperbolic
In sum, I highly recommend this DVD edition.