Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler (The Gambler) (1922)

Very leisurely story telling; long conversations with (some say) too long intertitles; lavish sets; great black and white cinematography; make-up typical for a movie influenced by Expressionism (the characters even have a short conversation about Expressionism)...

...but not enough to keep this viewer interested. I managed to wade through to the end of Part One, but did not feel inclined to bother with Part Two, so, no, this is not a movie you must see before...

It's worth sampling though. Lang likes to make maximum use of the available depth of field - long before Gregg Toland became famous for it in Citizen Kane - so there are some interestingly composed shots. Still not much dynamism in the use of camera movement, except for one tricksy shot in the Petit Casino. And lots of the iris shot.

I might return to it at some point, but Nanook of the North beckons.