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Co-writer/director Fritz Lang’s 1922 German movie is a highly acclaimed and much admired classic of silent cinema. It stars Rudolf Klein-Rogge as the mad master arch-criminal Dr Mabuse, who plans to run Berlin and then rule the world with the help of disguises, hypnotism and blackmail. ‘There is no such thing as love, only passion!’ he says. ‘No luck, only the will to gain power!’

Dr Mabuse and his organisation of criminals are plotting a theft of information to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Mabuse goes in disguise to the Folies Bergeres show, where dancer Cara Carozza (Aud Egede-Nissen) gives him info on his next victim, young millionaire Edgar Hull (Paul Richter). But the state attorney, Staatsanwalt von Wenck (Bernhard Goetzke), sets out to try to track Mabuse down and stop his crazy schemes.

Dr Mabuse, The Gambler is one of the great epics of German silent cinema. Dr Mabuse’s influence is enormous – most obviously in its generation of a series of sequels in the 1960s. More so than that, Dr Mabuse is the seed from which the James Bond super-villains were drawn – one can still see Mabuse the calculating criminal genius reflected in contemporary villains like Hannibal Lecter (even if Norbert Jacques and Fritz Lang drew the basic character from Professor Moriarty in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories).

Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud Egede Nissen, Gertrude Welcker, Alfred Abel, Bernhard Goetzke, Paul Richter, Robert Forster-Larrinaga, Hans Adalbert Schlettow
Country: Germany
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

2xBD50 | 1080p AVC | 02:35:10 + 01:55:40 | 90.5 Gb + 3% rec
Language: German Intertitles
Subtitles: English

Extras:

BLU-RAY DISC ONE

* The Film - Part 1 "The Great Gambler: A Picture of the Time" (155:10)

• Audio Commentary Part I - this audio commentary with film scholar David Kalat was recorded exclusively for The Masters of Cinema series in 2009. Mr. Kalat offers a wealth of information addressing the film's production history, its unique themes, and some of the different versions of the film that exist. Also provided is interesting information about the socio-political climate in Germany at the time when the film was made, as well as the novel by Norbert Jacques that inspired it.

BLU-RAY DISC TWO

* The Film - Part 2 "Inferno: A Game for the People of our Age" (115:40)

• Audio Commentary Part II

• Mabuse's Music - in this video interview, the late Aljoscha Zimmermann discusses the restoration score of Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, and specifically its unique harmonic structure. In German, with optional English subtitles. (13 min).

• Norbert Jacques - in this video piece, film scholar and writer Michael Farin discusses the famous novel by Norbert Jacques that inspired Fritz Lang to film Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. In German, with optional English subtitles. (10 min).

• Mabuse's Motives - an excellent featurette focusing on the history, significance, and unique qualities of Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler. The featurette contains clips from an archival interview with Fritz Lang as well as clips from classic German silent films. In German, with optional English subtitles. (30 min).