Le Retour du Dr. Mabuse

This was another good entry in the Dr. Mabuse series, and a good German mystery movie in general.

Gert Frobe is excellent as Lohmann, and Lex Barker is a welcome addition with his character, who keeps us on our toes by never really letting us know his true allegiances until late in the film.

Once again though, a lot of traps and salient plot points are recycled from some of the previous Mabuse movies. The addition of the "Chicago Syndicate" element looks to have been added to make the movie more reachable to US audiences, but the film does manage to keep the unique verve that most German cinema had back in the fifties and sixties.

Own laws are valid for criminal-genious Dr. Mabuse ( Wolfgang Preiss ). Inspector Gert Fröbe is being helped or disturbed by Lex Barker. The team, director H. Reinl and Lex Barker continued their work at Winnetou. The Westgerman-criminal-era started in the late 1950ies up to 1970. Famous were the many Wallace-criminals, but Dr. Mabuse is more unique with great Preiss and contains action and disport.

If you see that a big truck is following you, run as fast as you can, you are in danger of being set on fire with a flamethrower, crushed against a wall or thrown a substance that will put you to sleep and then kidnap you. All this and many other fascinating things happen in this film, it's a successful one from the Mabuse series. Harald Reinl, the director, was as good as Fritz Lang. We have a very young and beautiful Daliah Lavi in the role of a very curious reporter and at the same time the daughter of a scientist, we have the natural and very convincing Gert Fröbe as Kommissar Lohmann and Lex Barker as a FBI agent and the excellent experts in villainous roles Werner Peters as Böhmler and Wolfgang Preiss as Dr. Mabuse. And Peter Sandloff's music is good, he being also the author of the music for "Die unsichtbaren Krallen des Dr. Mabuse" (1962).

Second part of the new Doctor Mabuse series

As a competitor to the successful Edgar Wallace film adaptations, producer Artur BRAUNER brought old Mabuse out of obscurity with his CCC. The American Tarzan actor Lex BARKER, whom BRAUNER met in Rome at the premiere of THE SWEET LIFE, joined the cast of the German shocker.

In a city with the license plate P (filmed in Berlin), bizarre murders occur again, including a female FBI spy (Laura SOLARI). This brings Joe Como (BARKER) from America onto the scene. But Inspector Lohmann (Gert FRÖBE), who actually wanted to go fishing, is also investigating. The attractive Maria Sabrehm (Daliah LAVI / GOLDEN GLOBE nomination for TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER CITY) is also bustling around the crime scene as a frenzied reporter. The investigation soon focuses on a church whose pastor (Rudolf FERNAU) writes obscure books about the devil, and a prison whose warden (Fausto TOZZI) is soon murdered. Doctor Mabuse is back at it again...

Director Harald REINL (OSCAR nomination for MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE) brings new impetus to the series. This is also ensured by the lively Lex BARKER, who was already able to warm up for the role of Old Shatterhand. Other standard actors from the German horror thriller appear: Werner PETERS, Ady BERBER, Wolfgang PREISS. Daliah LAVI from Israel, who later became very successful as a pop star, also cuts a good figure. Incidentally, Hans-Jürgen KIEBACH (OSCAR for CABARET) was responsible for the production design. 2.483 million visitors wanted to see the film in West German cinemas. Sequel follows! The series could continue!

Enjoyable German crime thriller stars Gert "Goldfinger" Frobe as police commissioner Lohmann, faced with a series of crimes perpetrated by convicts. These convicts have been turned into obedient slaves by the nefarious, mysterious mastermind Dr. Mabuse, and are able to escape prison and return there once their deeds are done. Giving Lohmann an assist is American FBI agent Joe Como (Lex Barker); also involved is a sexy female reporter, Maria Sabrehm (the delectable Daliah Lavi).

Capably directed by Harald Reinl ("The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism"), this is good, zesty entertainment that gets by due to effective lighting schemes, a swift pace, and a snappy script. The movie rarely stops moving, presumably to keep us focused on the story and prevent us from thinking about it too much. It's a delight to see heavyset, jovial Frobe as a hero, and Barker (just one of many Tarzan performers over the years) is solid as a character about whom you're never quite sure; whose side is he really on? Lavi is appealing while also functioning as major eye candy. The strong supporting cast includes Fausto Tozzi as the sleazy looking Warden Wolf, Werner Peters as his associate Bohmler, Wolfgang Preiss as the slippery Mabuse, Rudolf Forster as a disgraced chemist, Rudolf Fernau as a priest, and Joachim Mock as Detective Voss.

Sometimes startlingly violent (one victim is turned into a human torch), but pretty stylish throughout, "The Return of Dr. Mabuse" is just plain fun for any lover of this film series.

Seven out of 10.