The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Randy T

  
  In spite of the efforts of men like Johannes Schultz and Gustave Le Bon, hypnosis was often viewed as something supernatural or other-worldly well into the mid-twentieth century. This was not lost on German director Fritz Lang who made full use of public misconception here in this… More
  In spite of the efforts of men like Johannes Schultz and Gustave Le Bon, hypnosis was often viewed as something supernatural or other-worldly well into the mid-twentieth century. This was not lost on German director Fritz Lang who made full use of public misconception here in this spin off of <i>M</i>. Though it's science is flawed, the rest of the film is well ahead of it's time. Lang's use of sound to tie scenes together (i.e. a ticking time-bomb becomes a man tapping on his breakfast egg) worked so well that similar effects are still being used today. The specter of Dr. Mabuse and his hypnotic mind control manifests itself in ghostly apparitions which Lang presents in transparent fashion, complete with makeup that is almost as effective and frightening today as it was in 1933. Don't expect this to be in the same league as Lang's landmark crime drama <i>M</i>, to compare the two would be unfair. <i>The Testament of Dr. Mabuse</i> is much more of a ghost story, a horror film, than it's predecessor but it is very much a classic in it's own right. Anchored in realism but delving far further into the macabre and the surreal.

• Daniel P

  
  Fritz Lang always makes such an interesting study, and despite having not seen the rest of the series, I really enjoyed this film. Lang's oeuvre is a forerunner to many of the films - and genres themselves - that we've come to take for granted. This installment in the series… More
  Fritz Lang always makes such an interesting study, and despite having not seen the rest of the series, I really enjoyed this film. Lang's oeuvre is a forerunner to many of the films - and genres themselves - that we've come to take for granted. This installment in the series is a gangster film, effectively, except for the gang is more hell-bent on terrorist objectives than good old-fashioned cash-grabbing. Now add a haunting on top of the standard gangster fare, and make it all look like the first noir film you can imagine... you're basically there. Not the easiest to watch (as it's over 70 years old and the editing jumps around due simply to the restoration efforts made), but well worth it, once you're into it Lang's film proves exciting. And of particular note, there's one scene where an evil directive to the gang of terrorists is found to be coming from a recording... still quite topical, surprisingly...

• Veronique K

  
  "the testament of dr. mabuse" is fritz lang's perverse thriller upon mental hypnotization as manipulative apparatus of evil saboteurs. dr. mabuse is a deranged assylum patient who scrabbles abstract manuscripts to puzzle his patriachist who descends as his… More
  "the testament of dr. mabuse" is fritz lang's perverse thriller upon mental hypnotization as manipulative apparatus of evil saboteurs. dr. mabuse is a deranged assylum patient who scrabbles abstract manuscripts to puzzle his patriachist who descends as his surrogate puppet headleader of underground destructive activities. eventually evil is infectious in its ceaseless delivering. the scene of patriachist being possessed by dr. mabuse's evil spirit is macabrely spooky. mabuse with piercing sight and slanted sharp nose penetrates into the doctor's soul, and the envirnoment is hauntingly surrounded with the disfigured skulls of abnormal sinister men upon the shelf as specimen. one evil passes forward another as the vicious circle that is a metaphor of nazi's brain-rinsing control over the germany. lang transcends the patriachist/inmate reversion into a mythical analogy of social criticism, and the case pf dr. mabuse would be one of early cinematic human-beast who pestles the world in his absolute demonology that is satan conquers all in the end, far more sinister than the anthony hopkins' "cannibal lecter".

• Ken S

  
  Great psychological crime drama from the master Fritz Lang

• Stella D

  
  cool early german crime thriller expressing the common theme of man's anxiety in the industrial age. very good special effects for 1933! mabuse reminds me of a bond villain

• Michael G

  
  Legend has it Joseph Goebbels held a meeting with Fritz Lang to tell him 2 things: 1) That he was banning this movie, and 2) that the Nazi Party wanted to hire Lang as their propaganda filmmaker. Lang left Germany that night. If that story is true then Nazis had a way of banning… More
  Legend has it Joseph Goebbels held a meeting with Fritz Lang to tell him 2 things: 1) That he was banning this movie, and 2) that the Nazi Party wanted to hire Lang as their propaganda filmmaker. Lang left Germany that night. If that story is true then Nazis had a way of banning amazing works of art. The first 5 minutes of this movie prove its brilliance, as do the special effects and the final chase scene, which was actually pretty scary with the way the trees were lit. But the scene where an insect-eyed Mabuse possesses Baum is one of the scariest things I've ever seen. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse started off slow (between that and the subtitles I was done in before the first 45 minutes before finally getting through the whole thing on a 3rd try) but I'll be damned if that last hour isn't worth it.

• Marion R

  
  There is a lot of neat stuff in here, the special effects of the ghost of Mabuse was just so cool, but in other parts the film dragged. All I wanted to do was to edits some scenes out, the unbearable long fire scene at the chemical plant, ,but especially the flashback scenes which I… More
  There is a lot of neat stuff in here, the special effects of the ghost of Mabuse was just so cool, but in other parts the film dragged. All I wanted to do was to edits some scenes out, the unbearable long fire scene at the chemical plant, ,but especially the flashback scenes which I felt were unnecessary. Overall it was just okay.

• Tom S

  
  Fantastic, underrated Lang film.

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