Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (aka Dr Mabuse, der Spieler)
This is a two-part film by Fritz Lang. The first part is called "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, An Image of the Times," and the second is "Inferno, People of the Times." Together, the movie is over three and a half hours long. It is based on a novel written by Norbert Jacques, and the script for Lang's film was written by his wife Thea von Harbou (who had been married to one the film's stars, Rudolf Klein-Rogge). The film is difficult but interesting for a number of reasons.
The gist of the plot is that Dr. Mabuse (played by Klein-Rogge) is the arch-fiend of all society, an evil genius who can rule the world by the force of his will. He has a gang of henchmen that he controls in various ways: violence, hypnotism, corruption, money. Mabuse is wealthy from various schemes: stock market fraud, counterfeiting, and gambling. Mabuse affects a series of disguises when he gambles. He wins by overpowering the minds of the fellows at his table and making them lose even when they have winning hands. As an arch- fiend, Dr. Mabuse is the god-father of all the James Bond movie villains. The will of Dr. Mabuse is an irresistible force.
Our hero is State Attorney von Wenk, played with admirable restraint by Bernhard Goetzke. I'd put Goetzke in the same league as Sam Shepard in terms of looks and acting. Even though it's a silent movie we can tell von Wenk is laconic - there are lengthy scenes of him clenching his jaw as he ponders whatever he's pondering, the camera lingering on his handsome face. Von Wenk is made aware of numerous complaints of card-sharking at clubs and casinos, but it's always a different man (we know, of course, that it's Mabuse in disguise); von Wenk goes out to various gambling halls to ferret out his prey. And the game is afoot.
Mabuse and von Wenk meet, both in disguise, and fail to recognize each other. One of the fascinating parts of the movie is that von Wenk has heard of Mabuse as a psychiatrist and actually recommends to one of Mabuse's dupes that the dupe see Dr. Mabuse for treatment; naturally, it ends badly. The bulk of the first part of the movie sets us up to see Mabuse as the arch-fiend with his hordes of dupes doing his bidding whether they know it or not, whether they want to or not. Mabuse runs by his watch, and the beginning shows him constantly checking it and taking his servants to task for not being timely. His stock market manipulations require timing, and he carries them off with aplomb as all around him panic. He's silent throughout the chaotic scenes except for two statements: "I'm buying," then "I'm selling."
The film is set in 1922, when the Weimar Republic was at the height of inflation and the depths of morality. Lang gives us "An Image of the Times." Mabuse's speculations and criminal schemes fit into the milieu of the times in Germany. Mabuse has no morals, no scruples; his goal to to get whatever he wants when he wants it. From his point of view, there is only will. Mabuse has the will, and he will have his way.
In the second part, we see the havoc wrought on the people Mabuse has, well, abused. Suicides, protracted prison terms, deaths, all at the will of Mabuse. The inferno is in the mind, and Mabuse burns people up, then discards them as the trash they are.
I don't recommend this film for beginners in the experience of silent movies. It is very long, and the pacing is leisurely. Lang sets up long portraits of his actors and shows them moodily staring for long seconds. The script is not realistic, and the characters are not naturalistic. The acting sidles toward the stylized arm-thrown-across-the-brow to show anguish, but because nothing is natural in the movie, this style works here without being laughably histrionic. The sets verge toward German Expressionism, but maintain a certain reality that makes the apartments and rooms more believable as actual homes than, for example, the sets in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler" is a long series of long portraits of characters and settings. Lang establishes his characters by showing them in inaction.
The movie can be seen as a portrayal of the corruption of the Weimar Republic. The years immediately preceding 1922 were fraught with violence in the streets as extremists battled each other for control of cities and states within the republic. The government had started printing money to repay huge debts, but there were no goods to sell to other countries to earn the marks. This led to hyperinflation; one of Mabuse's counterfeiting schemes was to print only US dollars, because other currencies devalued before he could dispose of the counterfeits.
But this was also an era of unparalleled creativity, of which "Dr. Mabuse" is a prime example. The cabaret scene in Germany in the Twenties was unrivaled in its sexuality (the various treatments of "Cabaret" bear this out) but also unrivaled in its success as entertainment. The Bauhaus school of architecture and Expressionism in theatre, art, and cinema, are just two of the Weimar Republic's contributions to culture.
Be that as it may, instead of the triumph of the will expected by Dr. Mabuse, we find him at the end insane. His attraction to Countess Told is worse the fatal -- Mabuse's will is impotent in the face of her refusal of him. Perhaps "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler" foretells the rise of Hitler and his minions and dupes. Or perhaps the decadence and collapse of the Weimar Republic spawned arch villains willy nilly. Who can tell?
This is a two-part film by Fritz Lang. The first part is called "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, An Image of the Times," and the second is "Inferno, People of the Times." Together, the movie is over three and a half hours long. It is based on a novel written by Norbert Jacques, and the script for Lang's film was written by his wife Thea von Harbou (who had been married to one the film's stars, Rudolf Klein-Rogge). The film is difficult but interesting for a number of reasons.
The gist of the plot is that Dr. Mabuse (played by Klein-Rogge) is the arch-fiend of all society, an evil genius who can rule the world by the force of his will. He has a gang of henchmen that he controls in various ways: violence, hypnotism, corruption, money. Mabuse is wealthy from various schemes: stock market fraud, counterfeiting, and gambling. Mabuse affects a series of disguises when he gambles. He wins by overpowering the minds of the fellows at his table and making them lose even when they have winning hands. As an arch- fiend, Dr. Mabuse is the god-father of all the James Bond movie villains. The will of Dr. Mabuse is an irresistible force.
Our hero is State Attorney von Wenk, played with admirable restraint by Bernhard Goetzke. I'd put Goetzke in the same league as Sam Shepard in terms of looks and acting. Even though it's a silent movie we can tell von Wenk is laconic - there are lengthy scenes of him clenching his jaw as he ponders whatever he's pondering, the camera lingering on his handsome face. Von Wenk is made aware of numerous complaints of card-sharking at clubs and casinos, but it's always a different man (we know, of course, that it's Mabuse in disguise); von Wenk goes out to various gambling halls to ferret out his prey. And the game is afoot.
Mabuse and von Wenk meet, both in disguise, and fail to recognize each other. One of the fascinating parts of the movie is that von Wenk has heard of Mabuse as a psychiatrist and actually recommends to one of Mabuse's dupes that the dupe see Dr. Mabuse for treatment; naturally, it ends badly. The bulk of the first part of the movie sets us up to see Mabuse as the arch-fiend with his hordes of dupes doing his bidding whether they know it or not, whether they want to or not. Mabuse runs by his watch, and the beginning shows him constantly checking it and taking his servants to task for not being timely. His stock market manipulations require timing, and he carries them off with aplomb as all around him panic. He's silent throughout the chaotic scenes except for two statements: "I'm buying," then "I'm selling."
The film is set in 1922, when the Weimar Republic was at the height of inflation and the depths of morality. Lang gives us "An Image of the Times." Mabuse's speculations and criminal schemes fit into the milieu of the times in Germany. Mabuse has no morals, no scruples; his goal to to get whatever he wants when he wants it. From his point of view, there is only will. Mabuse has the will, and he will have his way.
In the second part, we see the havoc wrought on the people Mabuse has, well, abused. Suicides, protracted prison terms, deaths, all at the will of Mabuse. The inferno is in the mind, and Mabuse burns people up, then discards them as the trash they are.
I don't recommend this film for beginners in the experience of silent movies. It is very long, and the pacing is leisurely. Lang sets up long portraits of his actors and shows them moodily staring for long seconds. The script is not realistic, and the characters are not naturalistic. The acting sidles toward the stylized arm-thrown-across-the-brow to show anguish, but because nothing is natural in the movie, this style works here without being laughably histrionic. The sets verge toward German Expressionism, but maintain a certain reality that makes the apartments and rooms more believable as actual homes than, for example, the sets in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler" is a long series of long portraits of characters and settings. Lang establishes his characters by showing them in inaction.
The movie can be seen as a portrayal of the corruption of the Weimar Republic. The years immediately preceding 1922 were fraught with violence in the streets as extremists battled each other for control of cities and states within the republic. The government had started printing money to repay huge debts, but there were no goods to sell to other countries to earn the marks. This led to hyperinflation; one of Mabuse's counterfeiting schemes was to print only US dollars, because other currencies devalued before he could dispose of the counterfeits.
But this was also an era of unparalleled creativity, of which "Dr. Mabuse" is a prime example. The cabaret scene in Germany in the Twenties was unrivaled in its sexuality (the various treatments of "Cabaret" bear this out) but also unrivaled in its success as entertainment. The Bauhaus school of architecture and Expressionism in theatre, art, and cinema, are just two of the Weimar Republic's contributions to culture.
Be that as it may, instead of the triumph of the will expected by Dr. Mabuse, we find him at the end insane. His attraction to Countess Told is worse the fatal -- Mabuse's will is impotent in the face of her refusal of him. Perhaps "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler" foretells the rise of Hitler and his minions and dupes. Or perhaps the decadence and collapse of the Weimar Republic spawned arch villains willy nilly. Who can tell?