Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922)

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Director: Fritz Lang

Writers: Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang, from a novel by Norbert Jacques

Stars: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Adel, Bernhard Goetzke, Paul Richter, Robert Forster-Larringa



It can be a real test of endurance to get through Fritz Lang’s 270-minute silent classic about a hypnotist who controls the criminal underworld, which is a shame because there is so much brilliance on display here.

 


Perhaps it would have been more palatable if it had been released as two films, as it was originally intended. 



Nevertheless, it is rewarding viewing.

 


Lang was one of the original developers of the grammar of film, and many of his sequences are startlingly contemporary.

 

Spoiler alert!!! End of the movie!!

Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who plays Mabuse, has a magnificent screen presence and a penetrating stare.

















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