Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler [Restored Authorized Edition] [2 Discs]

Director: Fritz Lang

Overview

Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler is the eight-reel version of Fritz Lang's twenty reeler, two-part silent thriller, Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse (Rudolph Klein-Rogge) a sinister mesmerist/psychiatrist, toys with the weaknesses of the rich and influential. He worms his way into the confidence of wealthy men, plays cards with them, hypnotizes them into cheating at their businesses, then puts them in a position to be blackmailed so that he can corner the stock market. A devilishly ingenious plan-but Mabuse is up against the plodding, methodical police detective Wrenk, whose subconscious is not so easily swayed...at least, not at first. In 1932, Lang directed a talkie sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2006
UPC:	0738329046620
Original Release:	1922
Source:	Kino Lorber
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[silent, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	4:30:00
Sales rank:	46,913

Special Features

The Story Behind Dr. Mabuse" (52 min., in German w/ English subtitles); Fritz Lang biography/filmography; Stills gallery; Film notes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Aud Egede Nissen	Cara Carozza
Alfred Abel	Count Told
Gertrude Welcker	Countess Dusy Told
Bernhard Goetzke	Chief-Inspector Norbert von Wenk
Paul Richter	Edgar Hull
Robert Forster-Larrinaga	Spoerri
Hans Adalbert Schettlow	Actor
George John	Pesch,Pesch
Karl Huszar-Puffy	Hawasch
Grete Berger	Fine, a servant
Julius Falkenstein	Karsten
Lydia Potechina	Die Russin
Julius E. Herrmann	Emil Schramm
Julietta Brandt	Actor
Rudolph Klein-Rogge	Dr. Mabuse,Actor
Lil Dagover	Actor
Paul Biensfeldt	Mann, der die Pistole bekommt
Heinrich Gotho	Actor
Karl Platen	Diener Tolds
Adele Sandrock	Actor
Olaf Storm	Actor
Max Adalbert	Actor
Hans Junkermann	Actor
Adolf Klein	Actor
Hans von Schlettow	Georg

Technical Credits

Fritz Lang

Thea von Harbou

Fritz Lang	Director,Screenwriter
Erich Pommer	Producer
Thea von Harbou	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler is often thought of as the place where the director's filmmaking aesthetic springs full-grown to the screen. He had experimented with different aspects of visual style in his earlier works, but it is on this epic -- some four hours long in its original release -- that Lang pulled all of these elements together into the hyper-expressionist style that was identifiable as his. The first of three adaptations of the Norbert Jacques' novels by the renowned director, the film also provided Lang's wife and screenwriter Thea Von Harbou a canvas on which to explore and expand her own work. The subject matter, a cat-and-mouse game between a master criminal (with considerable scientific -- or, more properly, pseudo-scientific) knowledge at his disposal, and a top law enforcement official, was intrinsically absorbing in Lang's hands, especially as these characters were portrayed by Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Bernhard Goetzke; their duel would go on to influence the plots of comic books and feature films for a generation to come and longer, right into the twenty-first century in the form of the James Bond movies. As for Lang, his next career jump would be the Niebelung adaptations, in two epic-length movies that were even more stylized visually.