Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) dir. by Fritz Lang

In this article, we will be looking at 2019’s book “1001 Movies to See Before You Die” and going through each film in a random order that I have chosen. We will be looking at what constitutes this film to be on the list and whether I think this film deserves to be here at all. I want to make perfectly clear that I won’t be revealing details from this book such as analyses by film reporters who have written about the film in question, so if you want the book itself you’ll have to buy it. But I will be covering the book’s suggestions on which films should be your top priority. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that everyone reading this article has probably watched many of these movies anyway. But we are just here to have a bit of fun. We’re going to not just look at whether it should be on this list but we’re also going to look at why the film has such a legacy at all. Remember, this is the 2019 version of the book and so, films like “Joker” will not be featured in this book and any film that came out in 2020 (and if we get there, in 2021). So strap in and if you have your own suggestions then don’t hesitate to email me using the address in my bio. Let’s get on with it then.

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) dir. by Fritz Lang

Personally, I have seen this film a few times and every time I watch it, it gets more meaningful, more in line with what propaganda was back in the prime of Fritz Lang. I first watched it when I was fifteen purely because I was looking into some stuff to do with Fritz Lang and I managed to get a hold of a copy of this film by renting it from Blockbuster and, well, let me just leave the phrase ‘renting it from Blockbuster’ there. [Shivers in mid-twenties crisis]. Be that as it may, it is one of the best films by Fritz Lang, but “M” is still at the top for me.

Empire Magazine’s review of the film sums it up completely and entirely in all of its glory in a more accurate way than I could ever think of myself:

“Brilliantly played with flamboyant dastardliness by Rudolf Klein-Rogge, psychoanalyst Dr Mabuse is a criminal mastermind, whose genius for hypnotism and disguise enable him to defraud the Stock Exchange, steal treaties, run crooked gambling dens, abduct women and murder anyone who stands in his way. Yet, when he's finally brought to book, he disintegrates into insanity.”

But I think Time Out Magazine does an even better job of summing up the film in what the themes state about the character of “Dr. Mabuse” in which a man manipulates others for his own gain - a true machiavellian superpower:

“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.”

Variety Magazine is less enthusiastic to blindly support the early work of Fritz Lang though. They are more critical of the choices made during filming and casting:

“The film is somewhat hurt by the casting of Klein-Rogge for the title role; he is physically too small and not a clever enough actor to make one forget this. Paul Richter as a millionaire and Goetzke as Von Wenk do very nicely. And the Carozza of Egede-Nissen and the countess of Welcker are fine pieces of film work. The interiors of Stahl-Urach and Otto Hunte are sumptuous and tasteful, and Carl Hoffmann’s photography generally adequate. The direction of Fritz Lang has moments – but Lang somewhat negates his good technical effects by twenty forty-word captions of a ludicrous unconciseness…”

So do you think that this film deserves its place on the list? I obviously do, but in reality, you have to think about your own opinion.