MADMAN? MONSTER? MURDERER? SCIENTIST?
It may be a sequel, but The Testament of Dr. Mabuse still had the power to influence future filmmakers. This is the movie that made Claude Chabrol want to become a director. And when Christopher Nolan was preparing The Dark Knight (2008), he made his screenwriting brother Jonathan watch this film over and over, hoping he’d turn the Joker into a modern Mabuse.
Locked up in an asylum
The last time we met Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), criminal genius, gang leader and hypnotist, he was losing his mind. In the end of Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922), the criminal was trying to escape the police but found himself trapped in a room where the ghosts of his victims haunted him. When we meet him again, a decade has passed and Mabuse is locked up in an asylum run by professor Baum (Oscar Beregi Sr.). It doesn’t stop him though from running his empire; in his cell, he’s frequently drawing up plans, which are transferred to his gang. They never meet him; all they know is his voice coming from behind a curtain.
When Baum’s colleague, Dr. Kramm (Theodor Loos), discovers what’s going on, it doesn’t take long before he’s murdered by Mabuse’s gang. A police detective (Karl Meixner) tells inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) that he’s uncovered a criminal conspiracy, but goes mad before he has a chance to elaborate…
Real explosions and gunplay
Anyone who’s seen Fritz Lang’s masterful M (1931) will recognize Lohmann – and know that he will be equally inept in this film. Wernicke’s performance adds a sense of humor to this riveting thriller that offers tension and plenty of action. In fact, the explosions and gunplay were all real, making the crew nervous about the risks; one of the scenes has factory buildings blowing up, requiring weeks of preparation. As in Lang’s first Mabuse, there are supernatural elements; he came to regret it but it’s one of the film’s most memorable scenes, featuring the doctor’s terrifying ghost (still quite a sight 90 years later) merging with professor Baum’s body and soul. There are constant treats like this throughout; the assassination of Dr. Kramm in the middle of traffic is another well-crafted scene, and so is a pursuit for Baum near the end.
The symbolism of a ruler ruthlessly controlling his minions is staged with great force
Lang and his screenwriting partner and wife, Thea von Harbou, were originally in touch with Norbert Jacques, the man who wrote the first Mabuse novel. He was working on a story called ”Mabuse’s Colony”, and the three of them agreed that it could be used as a basis for a new film. Lang and von Harbou borrowed the idea of a testament, but not much else. The story is not one of the film’s strongest ingredients, its various twists barely making sense. Still, the symbolism of a ruler ruthlessly controlling his minions is staged with great force.
Lang knew what he was doing and his talents impressed the powers that be in Germany at the time. Joseph Goebbels liked M, even if the Nazis banned it later; in fact, during a meeting with Lang and other German filmmakers in 1933, Goebbels made it clear that Lang’s style was exactly what the Nazis wanted for propaganda films. Years later, after The Testament of Dr. Mabuse had also been banned, Goebbels wrote that he found the film ”dull and coarse”. As for Lang, he latterly claimed that the portrait of Mabuse and his gang was deliberately meant as criticism of Hitler and the Nazis.
Neither man was likely being honest with himself, or us. Different audiences had to be satisfied. The movie survives, though, without all that context.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 1933-Germany. 124 min. B/W. Directed by Fritz Lang. Screenplay: Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang. Cast: Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Dr. Mabuse), Otto Wernicke (Karl Lohmann), Karl Meixner (Hofmeister), Oscar Beregi Sr., Theodor Loos, Gustav Diessl.
Trivia: Original title: Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse. Alternative title: The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse. Co-produced by Lang. Followed by The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960).
