THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933)
Article #416 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-5-2002
Posting date: 9-28-2002
Police are trying to track down a criminal organization. Evidence points to the criminal mastermind being Dr. Mabuse, who is currently locked up in an insane asylum.
This is a tremendously entertaining crime movie with a few horror elements to it, though it takes a little while for these elements to manifest themselves. Mabuse was one of the first supervillains, and this movie was a sequel to Fritz Lang’s earlier DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER. It also borrows a little from M, as Otto Wernicke is playing Inspector Lohmann, the same character he played in that movie. Wernicke is great, especially during scenes where he questions suspects or investigates crime scenes. Rudolf Klein-Rogge is back as Dr. Mabuse, but without giving too much away, you really don’t see much of him. Once again, I marvel at Lang’s visual splendor and his splendid use of sound, particularly in the opening sequence. At this point, this is the only one of the Mabuse movies I have seen, and I am looking forward to the others.