Directed by Fritz Lang

Position on the list (at time of viewing): 467

I will be incredibly happy if I never have to watch this movie again. I have seen it twice, and that has been more than enough for a lifetime. It is sad that one of my legitimate favorite directors on this list has to start off with such a clunker (relatively speaking–everything on the list is a masterpiece in one way or another). This movie is so so so so so so so so so long. It feels like one of the longest films ever made. In reality, it’s *only* four and a half hours long, but my God it feels longer somehow. It just goes on and on, and the main character is indefensibly unpleasant (and he is absolutely the main character, at least in terms of screentime).

The plot largely concerns the machinations of a Moriarty-esque villain named Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), and the efforts of a variety of people trying to stop him from being evil and controlling the world. These efforts are led by a detective named von Wenk (Bernhard Goetzke). The movie is a fundamental work in the spy genre, and establishes a lot of its tropes, or furthers them from their establishment in 1915’s Les Vampires. Mabuse is presented as a super-genius master of disguise and mind control who is always multiple steps ahead of all his opponents due to his nihilistic world view and his belief in the will to power. Thankfully, even in 1922 Lang knew that all of that philosophy was garbage, and put it into the mouth and mind of a villainous madman. Considering that, however, he did give that madman a lot of screen time and a lot of lines about how great those ideas were. From what I’ve read on the movie, Lang was trying to manifest all the ills of post-WW1 Germany into a single individual–counterfeiting, stock market manipulation, gambling, etc. I don’t understand, though, why he would then make that manifestation of all that is evil the central character of his movie. This is a problem with von Stroheim movies as well. It’s not a lot of fun to watch an unrepentantly evil person just be terrible for four hours, never learning anything or developing in any way.

And that’s the real problem of the movie. It’s all about Mabuse, and not about the people trying to stop him. The movie’s ending, where justice is served and Mabuse gets what’s coming to him, is about 1/25th of the movie you’re watching, and that just can’t make up for the rest of it. This is perhaps the first film on the list which is survived through to the end, rather than enjoyed. Sure, the good guys win, but the villain is such a Mary Sue of evil, and they spend an absolutely inordinate amount of time on establishing just how amazing and undefeatable he is, that the film becomes a drudge. Honestly, the thing I was most reminded of was poorly written detective anime–“But if you thought that I would think that you thought that I was lying, then surely you would have…” Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh. And when the movie isn’t focusing on Mabuse’s superhuman mentalism and scheming, it’s just sitting around watching the heroes fail to catch him and complain about how brilliant he is, none of which is really engaging in any way.

However. However however however. I can’t see my way through to just writing this one off. I wish I could, but I can’t. Lang is still an absolute genius and his brilliance is on display here, so I must begrudgingly rate this a little higher than my impulse. Every once in a while, your glazed-over eyes will suddenly snap to attention on a shot that is so brilliantly composed, so innovative, and so beautiful, that you can’t help but stare in total awe of its majesty. Even this early in his career, Lang shows huge promise as a director that will be fulfilled by one of the most varied and brilliant oeuvres in cinema, period. It’s unfortunate that his genius is pretty sterile here, but it can still be admired.

In addition to the periodically impressive composition, this is the next step in the creation of the thriller, and that’s a genre that I truly love. Most of what Feuillade established in Les Vampires is developed here, with ticking clocks, double crosses, and general spy thrills and chills. It’s unfortunate that those thrills come punctuated by twenty-minute segments of Mabuse pontificating or the heroes lamenting the impossibility of catching him, but at least they’re there. Lang will get so much better later, and will even revisit this very concept in a much better film in about a decade, but for now I would avoid this one for all but the most dedicated lovers of film history.

Overall: