In Fritz Lang's epic thriller, Rudolf Klein-Rogge stars as the master criminal Haghi, who besides being a spy is also the president of a bank and, in his spare time, a music hall clown (shades of Feuillade!). Lang's editing virtuosity is in evidence from the very start, and through it he reveals that evil, like filmmaking, is an art. The setting, though not defined, is Weimar Berlin. “In the postwar city, everything is information, and information is all that matters. Haghi uses all the instruments of modern technology (the train, the telephone, photography) to gain possession of government secrets and assert his will to power. While keeping his enemies under strict surveillance, Haghi remains invisible, secluded in his modernist office and attended to by a mute nurse. As suspense is heightened through shots that fragment space and omit phases of the action, we witness the rise and fall of Haghi's delirious and yet rationally orchestrated plans. An unexpected, enduring love will break the clockwork precision of the system on which Haghi relies” (Domietta Torlasco).