Film Review
The film that established Fritz Lang as the greatest German director of his time is this
monumental thriller based on a popular crime novel by Norbert Jacques. Although
it is an amazing thriller in its own right - in fact, one of the best in the history of
cinema - it is far more than that.
Dr. Mabuse,
der Spieler is also an important piece of social commentary, a work that reflects
the state of mind of a country that is teetering on the edge of anarchy and self-destruction.
If you ever wondered how a country could slide into fascism and dare to take on the entire
world, driven by an obsession for order and racial purity, this film will give you some
of the answers.
The genius of
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler is
that it can be enjoyed both as a conventional thriller - it is well paced, filled with
tension, human interest and some spectacular set pieces - and as a historical document.
It depicts a world where crime genuinely is rampant and the authorities are powerless
to prevent its hydra-like growth. This is Germany of the early 1920s, a time and
a place where the criminally minded and unscrupulous could get rich very easily whilst
millions faced unemployment and even starvation. The spectre of World War I would
hang over the country for a decade, sapping the life from a weakened government, and allowing
all manner of evil to fester in the shadows.
With the old symbols of authority
discredited, with former long-cherished values discarded in disgust, the Germany nation
was crying out for a new breed of strong men to take control and bring order to prevent
the inexorable drift towards anarchy. The emergence of a figure like Mabuse was
inevitable - a strong leader with the will to put himself above all other men and take
control of their destinies, unavoidably for the worse. This idea of the Übermensch
or Superman was a vision which the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche explored in his 1883
book "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". The idea would become a horrible reality when the
Nazis appeared on the scene and took control of the country in the early 1930s, and with
chilling ease. Whilst Lang intended Mabuse to be a metaphor for the self-styled
gods who would inevitably profit from Germany's woes, it is hard to watch this film now
without equating Mabuse with Hitler.
Like many artists of his day, Fritz Lang
was influenced by the vogue for expressionism, which, in simple terms, is a style that
attempts to convey disturbed mind states through a distorted depiction of reality.
In cinema, this expressionism was usually achieved through obliquely angled shots, sets
with false perspectives, high-contrast photography with harsh lighting to emphasise shadows.
The approach would be refined over the years, inspiring directors in other countries including
America, becoming an essential element of
film noir.
Lang's use of expressionism is particularly interesting because of its subtlety.
Compare this film with contemporary works such as Robert Wiene's
Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari (1920) and F.W.
Murnau's
Nosferatu (1922),
where the expressionist style is more than just a metaphor, it becomes
the essence of the film. Lang is less preoccupied with style and more concerned
with depicting a realistic portrayal of his time and his country. Overt expressionism
only enters the frame where the plot requires it - such as Told's haunting dream sequence
or Mabuse's terrifying descent into insanity at the end of the film.
Otherwise, Lang uses the expressionistic style sparingly, to suggest menace, to underscore
the power of Mabuse's evil, without detracting from the realism of the drama and its setting.
As in Lang's subsequent masterpieces,
Metropolis (1927) and
M (1931), the expressionism of
Dr.
Mabuse, der Spieler is so effective because we are not always conscious of its
presence.
The character of the shape-changing Mabuse was partly inspired by the
arch-criminal Fantômas, which was brought to life in a popular series of films by
the French director Louis Feuillade. Indeed, there are many similarities between
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler and Feuillade's thrillers,
Fantômas
(1913) and
Les
Vampires (1915). Lang uses a similar episodic structure and the narrative
is driven by the thrilling contest between an obvious villain (Fantômas / Mabuse)
and an obvious hero (Juve / Von Wenck). The public appetite for such films
would ensure that Lang's film would be a success, which it invariably was.
The popularity of Mabuse ensured he would reappear in many cinematic guises, first in the
Lang-directed sequels
Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933) and
Die
1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse (1960), and then in a series of more conventional thrillers
in the 1960s. Mabuse is the archetypal film villain, a creature of great intellect
and limitless capacity for evil, with absolutely no soul and humanity, yet still horrifying
real. Nowhere is he better portrayed than in this original film by Rudolf Klein-Rogge,
better known as the megalomaniac Rotwang in Lang's later film
Metropolis (1927).
Dr.
Mabuse, der Spieler is probably Fritz Lang's greatest film, mainly on account of
its artistic brilliance, but also because it manages to say a great deal of the time in
which it was made. With its familiar thriller trappings - which include a spectacular
night-time car chase and a climactic urban shoot out - it is also one of Lang's most exciting
and accessible films. Beyond any doubt, this is one of the greatest works of the
silent era, and a must-see film for any fan of the thriller genre. Its recent
restoration - which retains the film's original two-part structure (
The
Great Gambler /
Inferno) - will allow
another generation to appreciate the work of one of cinema's greatest visionaries.
© James Travers 2007
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Next Fritz Lang film:
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924)