also eliminated a subplot in which Mabuse's actions are shown to be motivated by a desire to create his own country within South America. Film historian David Kalat points out that by eliminating reference to Mabuse's motivation Lang starts to dehumanize the character, which helped lead to the character becoming a franchise. But Kalat also notes that this eliminates the irony of the fact that Mabuse was seen by many viewers as a representation of aspects of Adolf Hitler, and many Nazis actually fled to South America after World War II. Lang and von Harbou also added some elements to the film that were not in the novel. One of Mabuse's key skills in the film is as a counterfeiter, but in the novel he never engaged in this. Mabuse's role in counterfeiting money adds to the social subtext and to the themes of the film. The film's opening, a 20-minute tour de force introducing the myth of Mabuse, was also not in the novel. The introduction starts with Mabuse shuffling a deck of photos like playing cards which will determine which disguise he will use that day and culminates with Mabuse manipulating a stock market crash. Kalat traces the inspiration for this sequence to Louis Feuillade's 1913 Fantômas II: Juve contre Fantômas (Juve vs. Fantômas). The ending to the second part of Dr. Mabuse is also unique to the film. The film incorporates a number of special effects such as animation and superimpositions. One aspect that was cheered upon the film's original release was the nighttime scene of the automobile chase in which Wenk chases Mabuse, which David Kalat called the most successful execution of such nighttime photography to that time. It was during the production of this film that Lang and von Harbou began their affair which would ultimately result in their marriage. Although von Harbou was married to Klein-Rogge at the time, their separation was amicable and did not create a problem for the film. Themes A key theme of the film is the dissolution of German society after World War I. The film portrays but exaggerates the difficult conditions during the period making the film's world a dystopia. The worthless counterfeit money created by Mabuse reflects the nearly worthless Deutsche Mark during the hyperinflation resulting from the Weimar Republic printing excessive money to pay war reparations. The stock market swings, gambling parlors and miserable living conditions