The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Technically remarkable, fitfully brilliant, not entirely successful, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse) was Fritz Lang’s second time out with a character who fascinated him. His creation is the archetypal Bond villain, a criminal mastermind whose tentacular reach extends right through the city of 1930s Berlin and from the here and now into the afterlife, or so it appears. The story kicks off where 1922’s Dr Mabuse the Gambler ended, with Mabuse in an insane asylum after being apprehended by the police. Whether he is actually or just feigning it is moot, but one man on the case, Inspector Hofmeister, believes Mabuse is still somehow running his rackets. As … Read more