The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

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Christopher S Ah, Fritz Lang. Hardboiled. Fast paced. Complicated. Fun. This psychological thriller centers around numerous characters-- the inspector, the professor, Mabuse, Hofmeister, Kent. Mabuse is insane, or maybe he is faking it. Somehow he is also running a criminal ring from an insane assylum, or maybe he is not. His henchmen do not understand why they are doing what they are doing, until Mabuse finally gives each of them a task to launch what he calls the "Empire of Crime." To do so, they must unleash horrible atrocities. Some balk, and murder becomes the name of the game. It is a dark tale, and the ending leaves you wondering if justice had prevailed, or if his plan may have, at least in part, worked. And you still wonder-- exactly who is Dr Mabuse. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/30/23 Full Review Logan D The criminal genius Doctor Mabuse spends his days in an insane asylum, constantly writing. Yet somehow his directions for crime are being followed. How is he influencing others when he never leaves his room? I haven't viewed enough of either's films to judge, but Lang and Bergman run neck in neck as far as favorite classic directors. And maybe Wells is in the mix as well. This is an visionary work of paranoia, dread, and tension. My one complaint would be I thought some parts distracted from the tale. Highly recommended Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/24/23 Full Review william d The film looks great. Fritz Lang's eye for black and white cinematography is outstanding. Unfortunately, the story is just too weak to earn a recommendation. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Tony S Despite the main premise being, the mystery behind Dr. Mabuse's criminal enterprise and it's inner workings. It's barely explored or gives comprehensive or satisfying answers. A lot of time is relegated to other plot lines, such as Inspector Lohmann's attempt to track Dr. Mabuse accomplices and Thomas Kent's disillusionment in working for Mabuse. Thanks to nudging by Lilli, played by Monique Rolland whose dialogue and performance is horrible. All this to say, that there is not a lot of Dr. Mabuse in this Dr. Mabuse picture, compared to Gambler. However, set pieces and effects are incredible for the time and coupled with sound, really give movie that sense of terror, the man behind the curtain was giving to his goons. Then there is, of course, a famous ban on film by Goebbels, making Lang flee Germany and go to Hollywood. The allusions are so thin, it's actaully quite mindboggling as to what kind of offense Nazis took with it. But then again, I guess if you weren't making explicitly pro-Nazi films, you were automatically anti-Hitler. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/08/21 Full Review andres s Impressive restoration given that this is from 1933. The look of it reminds me of Vampyr - another movie from the 30's. Jeez that loud mechanical thumping is annoying and makes one feel uneasy. It could easily make anyone go mad. So weird how Professor Baum has all those African masks and artifacts and also those different deformed skulls just hanging out in his office. God, what a creepy moment when the ghost of Mabuse is whispering his ideology and ideas to Baum. Holy shit! So Mabuse knew that he was going to die so he wrote out the blueprints so that Baum could then take over - having the ghost of Mabuse within him. Controlling him. Very original and weird ideas in this movie. The idea of Dr. Mabuse is interesting. I bet this Mabuse guy has the power to control other people's minds and get them to do things out of there will using hypnosis. I thought it was a very interesting crime thriller mystery movie. I can see how this movie might be a precursor to all the horrific events that happened during WWII. I can also see why they banned it for several years in Germany. It has a very nihilistic view and vision. I would say this movie was way ahead of it's time and very well done. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Fritz Lang's final film before fleeing Nazi Germany is an elliptical masterpiece, a crime thriller with deeper themes of fascism and madness. It takes the inventions Lang made in his earlier film "M" (from which we get some references, such as the murder posters on which the soon-to-be abducted girl in "M" bounces her ball) and applies them to a new take on Dr. Mabuse, who here is elevated from the one-dimensionality of "Dr Mabuse the Gambler" a decade earlier into a more diffuse force of evil. The images of Mabuse madly scribbling his testament gives us an uncanny recollection of how Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" in his jail cell, which then, like the title character, went on to possess the mass psychology of Germany. Lang continues to experiment with sound to great effect. I thought the sound transitions were especially clever, such as when a scene with the ticking of a bomb transitions to a man tapping a hard-boiled egg with a spoon. Also brilliant is when the scene cuts from a spoken phrase to a rhyming image, like when Inspector Lohmann speaks of the "man in the shadows" and we see the shadowy cutout of Mabuse in another location. Speaking of this, is Mabuse barking orders from behind the curtain in this room a precursor to The Wizard of Oz? I thought Gustav Diessl as Tom Kent bore such a resemblance to Jon Hamm that he could be his great grandfather. We even get explosions and a disorienting car chase! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

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