First of all, what sticks in the mind are the excellent performances of the protagonist, Went, and the master criminal Mabuse. Without uttering a word, Mabuse portrays unashamed, unstinting evil, plotting murders effortlessly and stoically.
The pace, by our standards (it's 229 minutes!), is a bit measured and I found myself using the 2X function occasionally.
The greatest surprise was in the acting style: none of the mannered Hollywood, silent-era overacting, wide-eyed, exagerraged arm movemens, etc.
The end, however, was a bit much: with so much time, the director could have made Mabuse's unraveling a bit more logical.
The only real flaw, outside of the ending, was in the choice of the two main females: both were singularly unattractive. It's not that there weren't stunning women around Lang, either. Some of the extras were gorgeous.
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Topic - Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler PT. 1 & 2: Wow! - tinear 13:09:03 08/05/05 (3)
- The second in the series, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, is also supurb, and better paced. - Audiophilander 13:34:28 08/05/05 (2)
- Thanks! I don't know how Mabuse gets a sequel, considering his - tinear 14:27:54 08/05/05 (1)
- I have both Pabst's Pandora's Box (Eureka; PAL Region 2) & Diary of a Lost Girl (Kino; NTSC domestic) on DVD. - Audiophilander 13:51:39 08/07/05 (0)