Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)

Original title

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler

Directed by

Fritz Lang

Genre

silent film, crime film, thriller film, dystopian film

Country

Germany

Runtime

4h 30m

Rating

7.7 of 10 from 211 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A master criminal named Dr. Mabuse uses gambling, hypnosis, and forgery to manipulate people and spread chaos in Weimar Germany. The film follows his schemes and the authorities trying to stop him.

suspensefuldarkcerebralslow-burnatmosphericintriguingunsettlingbleak

What happens

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (German: Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler) is the first film in the Dr. Mabuse series about the character Doctor Mabuse who featured in the novels of Norbert Jacques. It was directed by Fritz Lang and released in 1922. The film is silent and would be followed by the sound sequels The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960). It is four and a half hours long and divided into two parts, originally released a month apart: Der große Spieler: Ein Bild der Zeit and Inferno: Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit. The title, Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, makes use of three meanings of the German Der Spieler which can mean gambler, puppeteer, or actor. The film is included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, being the first of five Lang films to be included. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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