The first cinematic treatment of the character Dr Mabuse the Gambler, adapted from the novels of Norbert Jacques, had its opening on this day in 1922.
The four-and-a-half hour spectacle by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou was released in two parts a month a part with the sequels The Testament of Dr Mabuse following eleven years later and The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse coming nearly three decades after that. A criminal mastermind and mob boss oversees the counterfeiting and illicit betting in the underworld of Berlin, Dr Mabuse sets out to take on higher stakes than his organised crime racket and manipulates the stock market through short-selling and takes advantage of the panic to amass his fortunes.
