Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, 1922. A criminal genius uses his mind-control powers to cheat at cards. Directed by Fritz Lang. Written by Lang & Thea von Harbou, based on a novel by Norbert Jacques. Starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Bernhard Goetzke, Aud Egede Nissen & Gertrude Welcker.
Concept: 3/4 (Good). Cops versus gangsters directed by Fritz Lang. What could possibly go wrong?
Story: 0/4 (Terrible). Wait, the criminal mastermind's great scheme is to... cheat at cards? He can control people's minds, he has a gang at his disposal, he's a master of disguise, and he uses all this to cheat at cards. And, naturally, when various unrelated people start losing at cards, the state prosecutor diverts all his attention to this important case. What the hell.
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad). The pacing of any particular scene is good, and the movie does finally start to move toward the end. Why is this 4½ hours long? Sinister raised eyebrows are fun and all, but after a few hours they do start to get tedious...
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). With some amusing jabs at expressionism. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who isn't in love with the "great" silent German films of the early 20s.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Klein-Rogge is quite good. There's a lot of ridiculous over-acting.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). It's good for 3 or 4 (out of 12!) acts, near the end - when Mabuse finally starts fighting. But then there's the other 3½ hours of the movie. It's the kind of corny, serial-ish writing that might be fun despite itself in a 90 minute movie. Did I mention this is 4½ hours long?
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)
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