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Example 1: When Mabuse’s schemes are close to being revealed by an interloper, the offending party is assassinated at a stop light, behind the wheel of his car, the noise from the gunshot drowned out by a chorus of angry auto horns that swell and then fade away, as if by design. Lang builds the sequence out of well-chosen quick shots, and gains emotion with an overhead angle of other cars pushing forward or going around the now-lifeless vehicle.

Example 2: In a thrilling mini-drama midway through, two people attempt to escape from a room with no windows, no door to open from their side, and a bomb in the floorboards beneath them ticking out a chilling commentary on their hopelessness. The resolution to the suspense may seem improbable, but Lang draws out the plight by cutting to an unrelated monsoon of a shootout between police and gangsters across town, gangsters who feel trapped themselves. Lang traverses these two encounters skillfully, keeping the momentum kinetic on both ends by cutting back and forth at just the right moments. He establishes the boundaries and dimensions of the two entrapping locations and explicitly lets the audience feel the desperation of the individuals inside. One of the scenarios ends positively, the other not so much.

Example 3: In the extended car chase that helps draw the picture to a close, Lang even finds time for our heroes to change a flat and still stay within spitting distance of their target. That may be hopelessly naïve, yet it’s also charming. But I digress. Lang opts to use rear-projection (placing his actors in front of a screen and cranking up the wind machine to simulate them speeding) for less than half of the chase. The rest of the time, footage is presented as if shot from within the speeding cars themselves, looking up, down and ahead to the consuming blackness. Trees whirl by, curves loom unexpectedly; faint headlights appear ready to be sucked into the night. There is a surreal and Lynchian aspect to these moments, as if all bets are off, and no answers lie at the end of wherever the road leads.

And where does that road lead? To a resolution of sorts, but one that conceals as much as it reveals, that creates new life for Dr. Mabuse even as it appears to trap him once again, that can leave a lowly jovial police inspector with the distinct impression that “one [man]” simply can’t find all the explanations to the madness around him, nor conjure up any way to defeat it. As Lang observed the rise of the Third Reich around him, and his film wound up being suppressed in his home country for nearly 20 years, it’s easy to imagine he might concur with that sentiment.

Next time: He has directed two films that have grossed over $300 million domestic. She has starred in two films that have grossed over $300 million domestic (well, almost). The one film they made together barely grossed 1/10th of $300 million. Superheroes, angsty vampires, and interactive - possibly life-threatening - board games are all on board for a jam-packed Chapter Two.

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