Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
From other reviews I see that there is pretty much only two polarizing opinions on this film. Either they really love it, or it bored them to death. Mine is the latter unfortunately. I watched a version that went on for roughly 4.5 hours. It consisted of two parts, the first being around 2.5 hours, the second being slightly under 2 hours. And man, it felt like it would never end. Actually, I watched it already a couple years ago and didn't really like it back then either, but the high rating it has here made me curious enough to give it another go and hope I'd appreciate it more this time as I possibly just wasn't attentive enough the first time. The opposite was the case. It was one of the most boring 5 hours of my life.The film was directed by Fritz Lang between the two World Wars and shortly after the Black Friday that resulted in a global economy crisis. It is very vaguely related to that with the occasional reference early in the film to bank contracts. Basically it's about a super criminal (Dr. Mabuse) and his gang going against a public prosecutor. I really can't go much into detail here as, even with intertitles, it was practically impossible to follow the action and it can't be required to read constantly plot summaries to understand what is going on in a movie. This would have been necessary here though. The only thing that kept me at least slightly interested was the solid score from shortly after 2000 and I wouldn't want to imagine how these poor people in previous decades had to watch this never-ending film completely silent.Now you probably think, I react so negatively to this film because silent films are not really my cup of tea. Wrong. I like Lang's "Nibelungen" (at least the first part), I really liked "Metropolis". Is it that I don't like black-and-white films or crime films. Negative too. I had a good time watching Lang's "M". Or is it the length? Nope. I watched Edgar Reitz' most recent "Heimat" chapter not too long ago and quite enjoyed it. It was only insignificantly shorter than "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler - Ein Bild der Zeit". Maybe it was an interplay of all these factors. But most of all, it was just the story doing absolutely nothing for me and the characters being uninteresting and their actions weird, if not completely incomprehensible.That's why I can say that there's most likely no way I will ever watch this film again and to silent movie enthusiasts who are interested in watching it I say: Don't. Pick another Lang movie. Or maybe watch a 4-hour compilation of the works of Georges Méliès, Alice Guy, Segundo de Chomón and William Dickson instead. They have created some real movie magic that this film here unfortunately can't even be remotely classified as.
HulotderSpeiler
This film has a plot that is so detailed, so developed, and so complex, that no one would believe it was a silent film. As the plot develops, the character of Dr. Mabuse changes drastically. In Part I, he is an impossibly clever and cunning criminal. He is introduced as a master of disguise who carries out an almost victimless crime with the stock markets. He is not evil, he is just a criminal. But then, you see him hypnotize a rich man in to gambling away large sums of money, abusing his skill as a psychoanalyst, and aiming to ruin and drive insane an innocent man. When state prosecutor von Wenk is introduced, you get the impression that you do not know what Mabuse is capable of.Later, in the film's most memorable scene, the state prosecutor, in disguise, enters a club and goes straight to the card table. There is Dr. Mabuse, in the disguise of a feeble old man. As the state prosecutor takes up his cards, the words TSI-NAN-FU begin to chase him. He is falling under the spell of Dr. Mabuse, and you see the grim determination in the eyes of Mabuse, and you see that he will stop at nothing to rob and kill the state prosecutor. This is the first time that you see true evil in Mabuse.After that, Mabuse seems troubled. He lives by the bottle, and is stern with his accomplices. He shows no mercy to Edgar Hull, the rich man he robbed, and lures him in to a deathtrap with the seductress Carrozza, who is caught. Although Mabuse could easily have gotten her out of prison, he does not bother, he instead, unveiling all his evil, kidnaps Countess Told, and locks her in the room where Carroza lived, showing that he is not going to rescue her, despite her love and claims that he is the greatest man in the world for him.And so Part II begins, with several evil goings on, all the fault of Dr. Mabuse. The Countess will not love Mabuse, Mabuse is slowly driving the Count insane, and Carrozza is still in prison, refusing to reveal to the state prosecutor that Dr. Mabuse is the "Mystery Man" they're looking for. Mabuse does not wish to free Carrozza, he wishes to kill the state prosecutor. He hypnotizes the Count, and commands him to kill himself, and the Count's butler tells the state prosecutor that the Count's treatment only became poor when Dr. Mabuse was visiting. This throws suspicion on Dr. Mabuse for the first time. He handles it gracefully, he blames a hypnotist (him in disguise) who is holding a show that night. This lures the State prosecutor to come to the show, where Mabuse picks people out of the crowd, and convinces them to do random things. Then he takes the State Prosecutor on stage, and puts him in a trance, just before he slips into the trance, he identifies Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse hypnotizes van Wenk to drive off a cliff, but he is saved at the last minute and brings police over to arrest Mabuse. Mabuse and his men stay and fight, but are overpowered, and Dr. Mabuse is forced to flee through an underground passage to his other base, where he counterfeits money. And finds himself unable to get out. He goes insane, and is apprehended. Poetic justice, we have now lost all sympathy for this demented man.Such is a detailed plot that is too sophisticated to be told properly through title cards, and it may require several viewings to understand certain parts. On other elements of film craft than story, first is photography. This is a film with excellent angles and distances, and even a few tracking shots. As well, the use of double exposures and the iris shot show things that can best be expressed through visuals, such as the double exposure showing the face of Mabuse over the stock market.Rudolf Klein-Rogge gives one of the best performances in all of silent film as the demented arch-criminal Dr. Mabuse. His eyes seem to stare straight into your soul, and he never ceases to be convincing in the final scene. But best of all is when he says TSI-NAN-FU, with the utmost and purest of evil contorting his mouth, flaring his nostrils, and freezing his eyes.And finally, this film has excellent expressionistic sets: most notably Schramm's Grill, Mabuse's house, the corner it is at, the Count's mansion, and the club where Edgar Hull meets his demise: 11 Hayden street. All in all, this film is a masterpiece in plot, acting, and every other element of film craft. This is the greatest of all silent films.
Boba_Fett1138
This is the movie that features one of fist arch-criminals, Dr. Mabuse. A manipulative character, who by hypnosis manipulates people and set them up against each other and steal their money, by letting him play card games against him, while he lets his opponents deliberately loose, even when they have the better cards. He manipulates for more money and the love from respectable woman but also most definitely purely for his own pleasure. It doesn't need to be explained why Dr. Mabuse is evil, he just simply IS. That is what makes a great and memorable movie villain.Definitely true that the second halve of the movie is better than the first. In the second halve the movie really starts to take pace and form. Does it make the first part obsolete? I think not. It perfectly shows how manipulative Dr. Mabuse and the characters also get strongly developed in it. But yes, it's definitely true that the movie is a long sit. Almost 4 hours is of course a long time (and there even is a longer version). It does not ever make the movie bad or boring but it does make it a bit tiresome at times. The movie also isn't easy to follow but that often is the curse of early narrative full-length movies from the '10's and '20's of the previous century.For 60% of the movie, the movie concentrates on card games. Some of the sequence involving the games are made to look more exciting and and tense than in any James Bond movie ever had been the case.The movie uses some good early cinematic ticks and also some interesting storytelling techniques such as some interesting fast flashbacks, to help to remind to the viewer of what happened earlier in the story.The movie also shows some early film-noir tendencies and other thriller and mystery elements. Not just with its story, psychological thriller elements or style of film-making but also with its characters. The main villain Dr. Mabuse is of course the best example of this. He plays an early full-blooded big movie villain, who is also being accompanied by a couple of typical crook-like looking henchmen. All elements that later would become defining for the genre. The movie is about good versus evil, in good early cinematic form.Some of the tricks make sure that the movie is filled with a couple of memorable and effective sequences, mainly regarding the manipulative hypnosis sequences, by Dr. Mabuse. It makes the movie highly imaginative and original, though it all obviously is not as revolutionary as the other Fritz Lang classics; "Metropolis" and "M".Of course by todays standards the acting in the movie is definitely over-the-top. Fritz Lang never casted actors just because of their acting skills but also because of their powerful looks. It all helps to make the early acting in Lang movies still fascinating and powerful to watch. Bernhard Goetzke as the state attorney von Welk is a great 'main-hero' for the movie. Of course Rudolf Klein-Rogge is also great as Dr. Mabuse and so is Alfred Abel, though I liked him in "Metropolis" even better. Definitely worth seeing, if you can handle its long running time.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
