Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse

(This comment is on the fully restored Criterion edition.)

I see that my comments on the Mabuse films have been deleted. There was an IMDb era when any offended reader could exact revenge by successfully complaining of scores of comments. But I guess that's apt for the aura of this film, its history of being suppressed and its themes.

I find watching Lang movies to be frustrating. His most celebrated films: "Metropolis" and "M" don't resonate with me as they do with others. Even though they have effective scenes, they are effective not because they are cinematic, but because they are masterful stagecraft. After Lang went to Hollywood, claiming this to be anti-Hitler, his films turned mechanical.

It was only with this project that he hits my sweet spot, where his attentions are turned to all the elements of the cinematic art. This is whole, and innovative in every element. Others may find the many plots overloaded and in some cases turgid. But I think the density of story is essential to the elegant narrative tricks that this uses - all of them rooted in the film as film.

We have, possibly for the first time, non-linear narrative designed in a way to confuse the viewer so that we are inserted as detective, actively engaged in watching merely to make sense of what we see. The thing is envisioned as a whole with many reflections, many cycles, many connections between scenes and jumping among scenes. Images, sounds, ideas, characters contrast with and merge with each other. Its a tight fabric with so many junctions we can navigate as we wish, or as we have skills.

Yes, there are ordinary pleasures, too: amazing effects shots, one of the best chase scenes ever filmed, some very fine use of grime. But they re merely incidental to the way that this symphony is constructed and executed. This is one of the few films in my experience that gets bigger the more you learn about its provenance: the infidelities between the filmmaker and his screenwriter wife; the business with Hilter, much obfuscated by later Lang claims and the notion that he would do so. The original novel, The previous and subsequent Lang Mabuse films and their failings, indeed the breakage of his career. The many incarnations of this film on its way to us.

The way it overtly is written to influence, containing a story about writing that influences. The way it deceives on the screen, containing a story about deception behind a "screen."

The sex, as it penetrates the whole thing without ever being shown. The fact that although you can see it as having historical significance, you can still after 75 years see it as a modern, immediately effective experience from a man that for one year actually mattered. Still does.

Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.

Even today The Testament of Dr Mabuse is refreshingly original and at times startling to watch. Lang was truly one of the greats of cinema and along with Alfred Hitchcock basically invented the suspense film. This film is also the reason Lang left Germany, as it wasn't viewed kindly by the newly elected government.

Fritz Lang, the greatest of directors, finished this film and fled Germany as the Third Reich was raising it's ugly head. And what a film it is!!!! Although it may be too stylized for some, it speaks volumes of what was to come in noir film making. The story is a little over the top but that only adds to the appeal.

With only limited screen time, Rudolf Klein-Rogge is just magnificent. What a face!!! I became familiar with him as Rotwang in Metropolis and have tried to view any film in which he appears. Unhappily, his presence in this film is more felt than seen but still worth the effort. He reprises the Mabuse character from the earlier "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler" which ended with him being incarcerated in an mental hospital. This film picks up where the other left off and the scenes in the hospital with Klein-Rogge are mesmerizing.

The opening scene as a fugitive is trapped beneath the factory gives the story a kick start as the pounding of the machinery drives him (and viewers) to distraction. No dialogue is necessary.

The love story is a little weak but does not detract from the overall film. There is also a scene which fascinates.....it involves the shooting of a character at a traffic light.....fantastic.

I would recommend this films to anyone unfamiliar with Herr Lang's work. You will become a lifelong fanatic!

This classic thriller is an allegory of the nazis early rise to power in Germany and their future intentions. Censored by the Nazis government and not seen in its full form until many years later. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse(1933) deals with the themes of free will, genius, madness, and power. The Dr. Mabuse character foreshadows the great James Bond villains of Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Ernest Blofeld. Would be the final film that director Fritz Lang would do in Germany for many years until 1960 for his final film, The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.

Compared to most films in Hollywood in the 1930s, Fritz Lang's mystery thriller The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is years ahead of the game in terms of plot and camera techniques. There are some shots in this movie that would not be seen until Orson Welles' famous Citizen Kane, which forever changed the cinema. However, I think it's safe to say that Lang was doing the same thing in Germany at the time when Nazi rule was in the wake. In this complex and filling story, a veteran criminal with a brilliant mind has been in an insane asylum for ten years yet is writing memoirs that seem to predict crimes happening outside. The Inspector Lohmann attempts to solve this case, not knowing how strange and convoluted it really is. Despite the complexity of it, this film is rather easy to follow and boasts some great performances and use of sound. Considering this was only Lang's second film using sound, it is a wonder he did what he could with it. The movie opens with a noisy print shop and a man hiding behind a huge trunk. The loud and obnoxious noise of the printer continues all throughout the scene and shows what sound can really do to a film. All in all, Lang shows his pioneering ability to use the resources available in ways no one had thought of at the time. There are hints of German Expressionism here, but mostly just a well-told and engaging detective story that certainly will not age any time soon.