Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Part 1 and Part 2)
1922/GER 280m Dir: Fritz Lang Key Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Bernhard Goetzke
Based on: Doctor Mabuse by Norbert Jacques (Novel)
At four and a half hours long this is a massive film, though it’s split into two parts and these in turn are divided into acts so it’s actually more easily watchable than you might first imagine.
Dr. Mabuse is effectively cinema’s first supervillain. The film opens with him manipulating the stock market to his own advantage and then winning large amounts of money in a gambling den. It turns out through that Mabuse has the ability to control people’s minds, making them do give up when winning at cards or even cheat to ruin their reputation.
Whilst Mabuse is busy getting on with his evil schemes, State Prosecutor Von Wenk attempts to bring him to justice. Unfortunately Von Wenk only knows someone is manipulating people in gambling dens but he doesn’t know who it is nor that he has extraordinary powers.
The film continues along these lines as Von Wenk gets ever closer to discovering Mabuse is the criminal whilst Mabuse tries everything to avoid capture, including multiple attempts to have Von Wenk killed. It’s a brilliant cat and mouse game between the hero and the villain and for the majority of the run time neither really gets the advantage.
Mabuse is a properly horrible villain. When his muse Carozza is arrested and refuses to speak to the police about his identity because she loves him, Mabuse doesn’t seem to care at all and simply seeks a replacement. He does this in the most awful of ways, by kidnapping Countess Told and manipulating her husband to kill himself. For the film to be really effective Mabuse has to be really evil and he absolutely is.
I just adored this film. It manages to keep the tension going throughout and both Mabuse and Von Wenk are great characters. It’s effortlessly stylish and I think this is the first silent film I’ve seen where it’s not only the lead actors who give great performances but everyone involved.
A superb silent crime thriller.
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