DVD Review: Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (Kino Lorber)
A new 270 minute restored blu ray of Fritz Lang's 1922 epic film “Dr. Mabuse The Gambler,” offers the sort of sharp pictorial clarity and smooth visual transitions that one has come to expect from the painstaking restorations released by this company. It’s effective, appropriate music score is another important factor. And the film itself is among the quintessential productions from Germany during the silent era.
Director Fritz Lang was inspired to do a film version of Norbert Jacques novel “Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler,” with a screenplay written by Thea von Harbou, who would soon become Lang's wife. Jacques was even persuaded to not make his novel into a series, allowing for subsequent movie sequels to be original.
The term “der Spieler” is not limited to the act of a gambler as per its English translation. Dr. Mabuse is also an actor and a puppeteer with a talent for hypnosis. Mabuse uses disguises, different character roles, and his talent and mind control to guide his destiny and make other people into his puppets.
During the first portion of this epic melodrama, which has the subtitle “Part I — The Great Gambler: A Picture of the Time” (“Part I - Der große Spieler: Ein Bild der Zeit”), Mabuse shows that he has the manipulative power to control all those who work with him. His several guises are used in different situations with the goal of disrupting a commercial contract connected to the stock market. This control results in huge personal financial gain for Mabuse. By the end of the film's first part, Mabuse has compelled the Count to cheat in a situation that would easily have him caught doing so, abducts his wife, the Countess, and imprisons her at his home.
Then, “Part II — Inferno: A Game for the People of our Age’ (“Part II - Inferno: Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit”), Mabuse gradually sets out to destroy all of his followers as well as his enemies, fearing betrayal from the former. His power over them results in an imprisoned dancer taking poison out of loyalty when he fears she will reveal information to police, and the murder, by sniper fire, of an associate who botches an assignment.
It all comes to a conclusion when Mabuse, in disguise as a magician and in performance, hypnotizes the chief inspector in the audience and compells him to leave the theater and drive his car off a cliff. The inspector complies, but is stopped and revived by his men. The lawmen then go to confront Mabuse and his people at his home, killing all but Mabuse during the confrontation, and rescuing the imprisoned Countess. Mabuse escapes by going underground through the sewer system and hiding out in a secluded counterfeiting workshop. However, there is no escape from within, so he is trapped. He then descends into madness, as he is confronted by demons and spiritual apparitions of his victims. When he is finally discovered and captured, he has gone insane.
There have been several different edits of this film, including one that truncates both parts into one shorter feature. This blu ray's longer cut from Kino Lorber is deeper and more fulfilling, and its importance is both aesthetic and historical. It is Fritz Lang’s first Dr. Mabuse film ( a sequel was made in 1933 and another in 1960 which would be the director’s final film). In its historical context, "Dr. Mabuse The Gambler" offers a good example of Germany during the Weimar Republic that was eventually to lead into fascism.
The central character of Mabuse gambles for financial gain, using his acting skill to become different characters for different situations, and acts as puppeteer to manipulate those around him. It is a complex character played beautifully by actor Rudolph Klein Rogge, who had appeared in Weine's "Cabinet of Dr. Calligar" (1920), would also star in Lang’s “Metropolis” (1927), as well as the sequel to this film, “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse” (1933).
This blu ray is mastered from a 2000 restoration conducted by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, with surviving camera negatives from the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin, and the Filmmuseum in Stadtmuseum, Munich. It is the longest available version of this movie and the closest to Fritz Lang’s own vision. This two disc set also contains, as a special feature, the fascinating one hour documentary, “The Story Behind Dr. Mabuse," which discusses the making and restoration of this film.
You can purchase the blu ray or DVD here.