This blog entry is part of my "movie year countdown round #2". Read more about that here.
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler - Ein Bild der Zeit (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler)
Based on a novel, this film feels very novel like mostly because it's able to fit in a much longer and fuller story in it's close to four and a half hour running time. The story is not so much episodic though in that there aren't missing pieces of plot. But there are many different venues and sections of the movie, many which seem to enter into different or multiple genres at times. It's mainly a crime story, with the super criminal vs. the investigator. But it has elements of horror, supernatural, it's a thriller, a gambling movie, a prison movie, a love story, it has a shoot out, and more. And Mabuse's many different disguises are a way to kind of divide the movie up as well. We are always anticipating what the next disguise will look like.
This is probably the first of the classic film genre of the expert investigator vs. the expert criminal. That battle of clever minds trying to outsmart each other in a massive game that involves power and affects the lives of many people. This is definitely one to see if you get caught up in that kind of scenario.
Rating: 9/10