Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse

Fifth part of the Doctor Mabuse film series

After the previous part THE TESTAMENT OF DOCTOR MABUSE was not so successful at the box office, the West German film producer Artur BRAUNER and his CCC FILMKUNST had to make some changes to the franchise. For the first time, the Mabuse series is crossed with the Bryan Edgar WALLACE series, using the crime novel THE WORLD IS AT THE GAME / THE DEVICE by Edgar WALLACE's son as a template. This enabled the German villain Dr. Mabuse also extends his criminal feelers to the United Kingdom. There was also a change from CONSTANTIN film distribution to the competing GLORIA film distribution run by the busy Ilse KUBASCHEWSKI. So there was a lot going on behind the scenes.

Doctor Mabuse (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Wolfgang PREISS) is physically dead, but his ideas live on and have now been taken over by Dr. Pohland (Walter RILLA) taken possession. Together with his helpers (GERMAN FILM AWARD (h.c.) winner Dieter BORSCHE and Wolfgang LUKSCHY) he tries to get possession of a mysterious camera. With this device you can make other people do the craziest things, up to and including murder.

But the other side is also wide awake: Inspector Vulpius (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Werner PETERS) from Hamburg and Major Tern (Peter van EYCK) from Scotland Yard team up. They also get help from the secret service (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Klaus KINSKI) and from the major's smart mother (Agnes WINDECK), who likes to combine reading crime novels with tea time. And then there is the enchanting scientist's daughter Nancy (Sabine BETHMANN), who is so wonderfully helpless and in need of protection...

Good ideas for the plot do not make a successful crime film. The production by director Paul MAY (08/15 film series // AND THE FORESTS SING FOREVER / VIA MALA) is all too lame. You can tell that Lex BARKER is missing, who provided plenty of action in the second (THE RETURN OF DOKTOR MABUSE) and third part (THE INVISIBLE DOKTOR MABUSE) of the West German franchise. The character played by Sabine BETHMANN also seems all too out of date because of her annoying helplessness. Even Agnes WINDECK seems too sedate, just think of her famous torture performance in DER ZINKER (1963).

Hans NIELSEN and Ady BERBER can be seen in other roles. Ruth Barbara WILBERT plays Princess Diana, so someone must have had a prophetic gift... ;-)

A rather weaker horror crime thriller from the heyday of the genre! There would then only be one more film in the Doctor Mabuse franchise, THE DEATH RAY OF DR. MABUSE.

The Dr Mabuse series was revived in 1960 by none other than Fritz Lang(1000 Eyes Of Dr Mabuse).A total of six were released from 1960 to 1964.This is the fifth entry.

Dr Mabuse has taken over the mind of a professor.It's confusing as heck but Mabuse is dead.However his spirit keeps bouncing from body to body.Mabuse is plotting his next anarchist move against society.

Using his henchmen he steals an electronic device that can manipulate a person's will.Mabuse can control an army with this device.Testing it out he makes an innocent postman commit murder.A hangman commits suicide.The device is in perfect working order.

Mabuse plots to do no less than overthrow the English government.(He hasn't had much luck previously in Germany which may explain the move to England). Mabuse begins to subvert the will of many key government officials.Even Scotland Yard isn't immune to this fiendish device. Can anybody defeat Dr Mabuse or will England be his?

There is a flaw or two with this movie.You don't have to watch any of the previous movies to enjoy this one.However it would help.The comic relief is the hero's doddering old mother.She fancies herself as a detective.While she does provide some helpful answers you really would like to throttle her.

On the plus side this is a great plot.It moves along at a breakneck pace and is well directed.The photography is top notch.The acting is fine(or as fine as dubbing allows).This is a worthwhile entry in the series.

It's a good thing they tried to change things around about and picked a different approach again. After all, this was the seventh Dr. Mabuse movie that was made, so everything had basically already been done before. It's not that the came up with a terribly originally concept are anything like that but at least they changed the settings and went along with different characters again, except for the villainous Dr. Mabuse of course, who is still as evil as ever and unfolds a new plan to take over the world, starting with London this time, using yet again mind controlling technologies.

The story is of course quite ridicules but at the same time it also works out rather well, also especially when being compared to some of the other '60's Dr. Mabuse movies. The whole crime/mystery elements of the movie are being handled quite well.

So out of all the Dr. Mabuse movies, this one really ain't among the worst, although it obviously also doesn't come noway close to the first three Dr. Mabuse movies, directing by Fritz Lang.

The acting in the movie really varies. The one moment it is great, the other its simple poor. The movie also features Klaus Kinski, in a quite early role and also yet AGAIN Werner Peters. He had appeared in 4 Dr. Mabuse movies before, each time in a totally different role, to which this movie also forms no exception. How confusing do you want things to be? Also Wolfgang Preiss reappears again in this movie as the villainous Dr. Mabuse again, for the fifth and last time, though only as the 'ghost' of Dr. Mabuse this time.

It's a quite funky movie. It has a typical funky '60's style, that all of the previous '60's Dr. Mabuse movies also had. Still the movie is shot in atmospheric black & white, which also provides the movie with a certain type of old fashioned atmosphere and overall style.

Yet another fine, perfectly watchable Dr. Mabuse movie entry.

7/10

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A very young Klaus Kinski which is silent almost all his screening time, he has just a few lines so, he can't show his talent too much. But, even his silence is great! Peter van Eyck is a very talented and full of charm actor but, in this one, almost half of the film, he's talking with his mother... The script is bad and boring. Watch it if you're crazy about Mabuse... or film in general!