Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler

The Eureka! UK Blu-ray is locked to Region B (Europe):For those considering the Eureka! Blu-ray, it's a UK release and is locked to Region B (Europe). It will NOT play in the Region A Blu-ray players normally sold in North America. The player must be an "All Region" or "Region Free" Blu-ray player. DVD region-free isn’t sufficient. It must also be Blu-ray region-free which is typically a modest additional cost option. I have a secondary region-free player I keep set to Region B just for films like this (usually from the UK) that have not been released on Blu-ray in Region A. It wasn't that expensive.Desirability of the Eureka! UK Blu-ray:Part 1 is 2:35 (155 min) and Part 2 is 1:56 (116 min) in length, for a 4:31 (271 min) total run time, from the Murnau Foundation restoration (more about that below). To my knowledge this is the most complete version on Blu-ray or DVD. There is a 297 minute version owned by the Goethe Institute, but as far as I know it has not been transferred to DVD or Blu-ray. Other releases, particularly the US DVDs, are considerably shorter. Among the USA released DVDs, the Kino Lorber is 242 minutes and the Image Entertainment is 229 minutes. There has not been a US or Canada Blu-ray of this movie, in any of its run lengths. The Eureka! release is the most most complete on home video, and it’s a 2-disc Blu-ray set. I’m do not know how much more the additional 26 minutes of the Goethe Institute version enhances the story. All the necessary elements are present in the 271 minute Murnau version without any gaps, continuity problems or plot holes.The complexity of the plot is amazing for a 1922 silent, with the intricacy of Dr. Mabuse’s machinations in conducting his criminal activities, concealing his identity and preventing anyone from following him. Dr. Mabuse is the German version of Moriarty, a genius master criminal with a large network of devoted minions. “Gambler” refers to more than just games of chance, it encompasses taking risks with everything in his life and with the lives of others around him. He is a psychoanalyst who can Mesmerize people across a room to manipulate their behavior through the power of telepathic suggestion. His criminal enterprise includes counterfeiting, manipulating the stock market, controlling casino card game player behavior, and inducing people to harm themselves or others. He is also a master of disguise and impersonation, using this skill to evade identification and being followed, and to prevent his victims, the local prosecutor and police from deducing numerous criminal acts have all been committed by the same man. While disguised as a stage performer, his playbill claims demonstration of mass suggestion, waking hypnosis, trance, “natural magnetism”, the secrets of Indian fakirs, the secrets of inner life and the subconscious in humans and animals. Dr. Mabuse is the consummate, omnipotent, omnipresent gangster. He is anyone anywhere, and nobody nowhere, confounding all law enforcement efforts to gather evidence of his crimes and identify him. Following the complex Rube Goldberg type ruses he uses simply to get into his counterfeiting lair with its blind workers packaging freshly printed notes is entertainment in itself. Throughout, there is no end of twists, turns and surprises as the number of Dr. Mabuse’s victims climbs and he eludes the local criminal prosecutor. Ultimately Dr. Mabuse is unmasked. With his numerous attempts to eliminate the local prosecutor foiled and his immediate lieutenants eliminated by the authorities, he is cornered and out of escape plans. Getting from the beginning of the movie to the ultimate end of Dr. Mabuse is a labyrinth of deception with a cat and mouse pursuit keeping the local prosecutor at bay just one step behind him until the final few minutes.Restoration used for the Eureka! UK Blu-ray:The Murnau Foundation made considerable effort to restore this two part epic to its original full length, including correcting and reinserting all the intertitle cards. Unlike "Metropolis" and some other Fritz Lang silents, there was no score specifically written for this film when it was produced. The music track was composed as part of the restoration. The goal was providing period music that supported the story as it unfolded. In my opinion it was highly successful. Source material quality varies throughout with some sections showing more degradation than others. The transfer is excellent, but limited by the condition of the two negatives used in the restoration. Overall, you likely see what a movie-goer would have seen after the reels had been played a few times, but not yet worn out. A "wet gate" process with fluid having the same refraction index as the film emulsion was used to do the digital scan. The result was many nicks and scratches being concealed. Grain, lighting variation and frame edge falloff are what I would expect from a B&W German silent production in the immediate post-WWI early 1920's. It looks rough compared to films made ten years later with dramatic technological improvements in all aspects of production. Most parts of the movie are not improved much over what could be done with DVD. The source negatives do not have that level of image resolution. The value of the Blu-ray is not in a high-res rendition, it’s in containing the 271 minute run length and the extra features about the Dr. Mabuse character, the director, Fritz Lang, and the restoration process.Silent Films:Pacing will not be what you find in talking films with similar genre and subject matter. It's going to be slowed some by the necessity of inserting intertitle cards with the dialog, and even then, story pacing then wasn't what it is today. We get to savor the characters and their environs as the story unfolds. That said, the pacing, in spite of its epic length, is a little faster than most other early 1920's silents. The acting may seem high melodrama and overdone by today's standards, but was also necessary to compensate for limited dialog on the intertitles. In that regard, it's well directed and the acting physically delivers dialog that isn't on the intertitles.Five stars for a Fritz Lang silent materpiece.

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is a must-have for any film scholar. It is one of Lang's best works, and it's hard to understand why this film is so little-known while the flashy but leaden Metropolis is considered a classic.Sergei Eisenstein was an admirer of Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, and supposedly he obtained a copy and studied its construction. I can only assume that the picture had a influence on other filmmakers around the world; it has a much more modern feel than any film I've seen from the early 20s. The pace is quick (at least in the first part), the cross-cutting between scenes is sophisticated, there is great attention to detail in the sets, and it rarely has the "stagy" feel that many silent films suffer from. If one had to point to one element that puts it ahead of its time, it would be its overall construction--the way the various shots and scenes are put together to create the story. Dr. Mabuse the Gambler creates a sense of both time and space; many things happen simultaneously in the movie-world, and the locales we see are not two-dimensional stage sets but rather three-dimensional spaces where we peer around corners and follow the characters from one room to the next. The only silent filmmaker I can think of who lavished so much attention on creating a credible world is Erich von Stroheim, though one could argue that that filmmaker should have taken a lesson from the economy of Lang's storytelling.In addition to its status as a landmark film, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler is also truly entertaining, particularly the first part. There are car and train chases, riotous gambling dens, memorable bit characters, and some great special effects. The basic story of good versus evil is compelling. Dr. Mabuse is one of the screen's greatest villains, a shrewd megalomaniac who seems to be tormented and driven by his overpowering desires. Rudolf Klein-Rogge is truly fantastic in the part. Mabuse revels insanely at his conquests and explodes with fury when he is thwarted. However, though he is extreme, he is no cartoon supervillain or two-dimensional monster; he is a fallible character, not evil itself but rather human evil, and this is what makes him exciting.The quality of the DVD is good to fair. I was thrilled with the clarity and felt that Image had done a superb job, but those who expect every title on DVD to be as crystal-clear as a movie that was released last year will be disappointed. This is not a perfectly restored copy; there are little imperfections in the film, from scratches to missing frames. There are even some very minor shots missing--for example, the very first shot of the seance scene shows the circle of hands from above, and this is missing from the DVD version. However, this is the most extreme case that I noted. In all cases the missing scraps do not affect the film as a whole; it is just that there are moments where you might think that Lang had a poor sense of continuity (and this is not the case!). Another oddity about the copy is that at least one of the shots differs slightly from that on a copy I have on videotape. There is a scene on the DVD where von Wenk is speaking to Carozza in the prison, and the shot shows all of the two characters. On the videotape I have, the shot is a close-up from a slightly different angle. I have had the same experience with another film, The Last Laugh. On two different videotapes the same shot differs slightly.All this being said, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this DVD. One must take into account that the film is from 1922 and is not very well-known. It is not a beloved classic that someone is going to lavish a small fortune into restoring to perfection. Note too that this is a movie that was not previously available on any format, period. There was one mail-order company that offered a home-made version on video, but the quality was poor at best and unwatchable at worst. It was like trying to watch the movie through a bowl of soup.Of particular note is that on the new DVD the film image has been shrunk so that it does not fill all of the available space of the television. This is because the aspect ratio of silent films was more square than the familiar 1:33 to 1 of the television set; sometimes leading to the tops of heads being cropped out when silents are transferred to video. This problem is solved on the DVD of Mabuse. And, of course, the DVD shows the movie at the correct speed. I totally disagree with the reviewer who said that it seemed speeded-up. Some of the chase scenes seem a little faster than normal speed, but I think that this was a device of Lang's rather than an imperfection of the DVD. There is also a commentary by a Mabuse scholar which, judging from the little I heard, is very well-informed.As a side note, Fritz Lang's sequel to Mabuse, 1933's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (the original German version is available only on video), is also very entertaining, and it features Lohmann, the detective from M! However, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse from the sixties (Lang's last film, I believe) is unfortunately quite forgettable and I cannot recommend it.

Dr Mabuse The Gambler is a film that I purchased after watching Metropolis and Die Nibelungen. The fantastic creative style of these movies were truly unforgettable and I loved (nearly) every minute of each film. When I read about this film essentially being a crime thriller, I thought that the change in direction could be quite fascinating and it was.The premise of the expert gambler and hypnotist Dr Mabuse being hunted down by the police force is very well handled. I love the way the main character does his thing by switching between clever costumes and messing with the minds of his victims. There are some great effects moments, including a brutal shoot out at the end. Some of these scenes are a far cry from the previous Fritz Lang movies I have seen but did a great job of being visually spectacular.Much like the previously mentioned films, Dr Mabuse The Gambler is a lengthy two part movie that can seem a little tiresome in one sitting. With that said, the movie can easily be watched in two separate viewings and I do recommend that you do so. As much as I enjoyed the film, I would be hard pressed to watch it all in one go.I fully admit to being a little inexperienced with the silent movie genre of cinema, but I know what I like and this is definitely one of them. The film has a good story with numerous memorable characters, great music and just oozes with personality. I reckon if I can enjoy this then it is a must have for genuine movie enthusiasts.

As odd as this sounds?This particular version of Dr. Mabuse der Spieler, has no subtitles.You’r wondering why that’s important?I don’t speak or read German.I therefore cannot read the German language inter-title cards — the on-screen cards that silent movies have, that provide text — as there’s no translations provided.I’m sure this is a fantastic film.But it’s not one I can watch.

Fritz Lang's silent masterpiece is split into two parts and lasts about four hours. But, like a lot of Lang's films, it sets off at a whirlwind pace with an attack and robbery of a secret, commercial treaty on a moving express train. Dr. Mabuse, a man who amuses himself though gambling with human lives and destinies, uses the stolen information to corner the stock exchange. This is just the beginning of a epic struggle between moral individualism and the seemingly invincible powers of an evil mastermind. The print is crisp, the soundtrack is great,( a jazzy, Kurt Weil-sh, Mack the Knife-like piano score). The intertitles are in the original German with an English translation; and here there is a minor annoyance with some titles being an almost literal translation along the lines of, ' since two days I am waiting now." but that is a small irritation in an otherwise excellent package. Sometimes the image presented reminds us how long ago it is; the First World war had been over for less than five years. It seems other wordly in some aspects, (such as the policemen all carrying swords ): but very modern in others, (malevolent terrorism for no logical purpose).Dr Mabuse is the prototype of every James Bond villain you have ever seen.Well worth the purchase: an excellent introduction to silent films.

This film marks the beginning of Fritz Lang's cinematic trilogy that spans across the ever evolving world of cinema. Whilst this film is around 4 hours and 30 minutes, it's an enjoyable experience that can be used to observe the purely practical aspects of cinema. I advise the music to be turned down or off entirely, its intrusion on the experience is irritating when the same track in played repeatedly for the whole film.

An interesting film, historically both in terms of the development of films and the attitudes and politics of the twentieth century - as well as illustrating the enigma and the skill of Fritz Lang himself.Technically impressive, lively ... effective ... but rationally and logically preposterous: impact and effect have been given precedence over coherence and sense of plot ... supernatural events allow the cutting of rational corners! There are also ambiguities and discontinuities ... poorly matched disparate plot lines? ... which are carried through on the vigour of the action but also reflect Fritz Lang's own ambiguities of intent (political? anti-nazi or not?) and his dubious accounts of dealings with Doctor Goebbels and the regime. The accompanying "documentary essay" is as interesting as the film itself..