Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
About Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
Dr. Mabuse, a psychologist and disguise artist with a hypnotic hold on a card table, runs counterfeiting and gambling in Berlin. He steals a commercial contract, panics the stock market, and takes the profit. As Hugo Balling he cleans out Edgar Hull. Prosecutor Norbert von Wenk tracks the "Great Unknown," resists a hypnotic attack, and is gassed in a taxi driven by Mabuse's man Georg. Dancer Cara Carozza, who loves Mabuse, lures Hull out. Georg kills him. She goes to jail and will not talk. Mabuse then fixes on Countess Told.
Cast & crew
More about Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler
Fritz Lang directed. He and Thea von Harbou wrote it from Norbert Jacques's novels. Silent, about four and a half hours, issued in two parts a month apart: Der große Spieler: Ein Bild der Zeit and Inferno: Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit. The German Spieler covers gambler, puppeteer, and actor. Carl Hoffmann photographed it. Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays Mabuse. Sound sequels are The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960).
Themes
Background
The first part's subtitle calls it a picture of the time, set in the Berlin underworld of the early 1920s.
Look
Carl Hoffmann photographed the two-part film.
Notes
- Aud Egede-Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel, Bernhard Goetzke, and Anita Berber are in the cast.
- Henchmen include Spoerri, a cocaine-using manservant; Georg the chauffeur; Pesch; Hawasch, who uses blind men in the counterfeiting; and Fine.
- Wenk puts Countess Told in Carozza's cell. Carozza sees through it and talks only about loving Mabuse.
- An Internet Archive copy covers Part 1.
Scenes
- Mabuse, as Hugo Balling, makes Hull lose at cards.
- Georg's taxi gasses Wenk and sets him adrift in a boat.
- Georg shoots Hull outside the raided casino.
Influenced by
- Norbert Jacques's Dr. Mabuse novels
Influenced
- The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
- The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Dr.MabuseTheGamblerdr.MabuseDerSpieler1922Part1)
