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Dr Mabuse: The Gambler (1922); Fritz Lang
Topic Started: Jan 23 2008, 04:05 PM (291 Views)
Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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I thought I would check this film out from Netflix, since I enjoyed Fritz' other movies I'd seen lately. The film was on 2 seperate discs. I know Netflix will send someone a bonus disc, like the bonus disc of "M" from The Criterion Collection, but it has to be ordered seperately. So I was surprised to see this film was on 2 discs. I thought OK, let's fire the bad boy up. Disc 1 starts up and I check the length of the feature....2 hours and 35 minutes....WTF....a 1922 movie that's that long. After viewing the 1st disc, I check the 2nd disc and it's 5 minutes shy of 2 hours. What I find out is this, this is one film but the portion on the 1st disc was released in Berlin in April of '22 and the movie on the 2nd disc was released in the same city in May '22. The 2nd disc has about 5 minutes of recapping the 1st but it's the same film. So let's see, add this.... carry that...7 squared is.....well looks to be a 4 hour and 30 minute movie. DAMN, thatsa loooooooong movie. If you thought Gone With The Wind was good and long, well, let's just say that GWTW is a crippled duck and Dr Mabuse: The Gambler is a hunter with a shotgun firing at the duck from point blank. This 1922 flick is one of the BEST films I've ever seen.

The film starts with the good doc berating one of his henchmen for using cocaine, as the doc selects which disguise he's going to wear from a set of picture cards. In the meanwhile we are shown 2 men sitting opposite each other in the compartment of a moving train. The camera peers at the contents inside an attache beside one of the men and it is a document for the stock market (I can't exactly tell ya what type of document, but it's a damn important one). This next bit of footage happens so quickly, yet it is too cool....The man without the attache jumps up, strangles the other man, steals the attache and throws it out the window and it lands in a car which has just driven under the bridge upon which the train was traveling. The driver of the car signals a man on top of a utility pole (With a horn if I remember correctly) and the pole sitter calls Mabuse. Mabuse, in disguise, meets the car driver and he has the lock on the attache jimmied and the contents are switched. This all causes hell at the stock market as members think the attache has been stolen, which it has, yet it is recovered and looks to have been untampered. The stock market carries on, and then all hell really breaks loose because of the fake info which Mabuse inserted in the case.

The doctor really has an interest in cheating at cards and this causes a certain Inspector Wenck to take notice as he sets his sights on Mabuse. 4/5 of this film, or maybe I should say both films together, is the cat and mouse between the doctor and the inspector. Did I say this was one of the best damn movies I've ever seen????? Believe it. If you've not seen this, I feel sorry for ya.

5 bong hits out of 5. I feel like Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when he beats himself in the head with a tennis shoe and exclaims, "I don''t feel that, I'm that stoned!!! That's how I felt after watching this. NO, not stoned...exhilarated.




It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Inspector Carr
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based upon your review of this film, I will be adding it to my Queue at Netflix. but for now I will clean my bong in anticipation........thanks for the review Stony.
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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I'm shocked Inspector. With all the films you've seen, you haven't seen this gem. Enjoy. Of course, if you don't like it, well.....uhm....blame Fritz Lang....yeah, that's the ticket!
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Frank Hale
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Might be worth pointing out that Stony appears, based on the running time, to have watched the recent KINO "restoration", which is 40m longer (nominally) than the earlier David Shepard Image version.
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Frank Hale
Jan 23 2008, 06:49 PM
Might be worth pointing out that Stony appears, based on the running time, to have watched the recent KINO "restoration", which is 40m longer (nominally) than the earlier David Shepard Image version.

Twas the Kino version.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Black Tiger
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I'm there with ya, Stony. excellent movie. Check out Lang's Spione (or Spies) if you haven't yet. It's great.
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