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Dr Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)

Director: Fritz Lang

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From Time Out Film Guide

Lang's introduction to Mabuse is typical of his early work in being disorganised and erratically paced as a narrative, but shot through with flashes of inspiration. The master criminal (taken from a pulp novel by Norbert Jacques) is presented as an overlord of the contemporary social chaos in Berlin: he profits from the ills of the time, and adopts countless disguises to instigate new varieties of exploitation. Lang has said that he intended the film as a kind of social criticism, and his sprawling plot does take glimpses of night-life decadence and themes like economic inflation in its stride. But overall the grasp of social reality is as shaky as the plotting, and the film's interest - certainly by comparison with the later Testament of Dr Mabuse - remains basically historical.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Fritz Lang

Producer: Erich Pommer

Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Alfred Abel, Aud Egede Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Bernhard Goetzke, Paul Richter full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 270 mins


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