Unfortunately, I have seen both this film and the much later THE 1000 EYES OF DR. MABUSE, but I have not seen the original silent film that began this odd series--odd because of the plot and odd that such a very long, long period elapsed between the three films. Insterestingly enough, though is that the guy who played Inspector Lohmann looks a lot like the guy who played the lead detective in the 1960 film! They were not meant to be the same person, but they did look and act a lot alike.
At the beginning of this film, you learn that the evil criminal genius, Dr. Mabuse, has been incarcerated in a mental institution since the first film (made in 1922). He's been totally out of his mind, but slowly he's begun to come out of his complete insanity--and his writings and language finally are showing some limited signs of lucidity. And, oddly enough, when staff look at his mad writings, they find that real life crimes are being committed AFTER Mabuse wrote the details--as if he was somehow magically transmitting his plans to confederates on the outside. And so it seems that Mabuse is indeed in charge of his criminal empire once again and the cops are ready to arrest him, when the evil doctor dies--yet the crimes continue as if he is still running things! At this point, it's hard to tell what the film is implying--whether the evil spirit of Mabuse has moved into the body of the head of the asylum or that the doctor just THINKS this has happened and thinks he's the embodiment of Mabuse. Either possibility is pretty cool, actually.
In the mean time, some nasty and interesting murders occur and the story does seem a bit more conventional. However, unlike one reviewer who disliked this later portion of the film, I actually preferred it and enjoyed the final scenes of the film. It was more exciting and I found myself getting more and more involved with the story.
The movie is super original and weird, but drags a bit in the first half, so an overall score of 7 seems appropriate.
At the beginning of this film, you learn that the evil criminal genius, Dr. Mabuse, has been incarcerated in a mental institution since the first film (made in 1922). He's been totally out of his mind, but slowly he's begun to come out of his complete insanity--and his writings and language finally are showing some limited signs of lucidity. And, oddly enough, when staff look at his mad writings, they find that real life crimes are being committed AFTER Mabuse wrote the details--as if he was somehow magically transmitting his plans to confederates on the outside. And so it seems that Mabuse is indeed in charge of his criminal empire once again and the cops are ready to arrest him, when the evil doctor dies--yet the crimes continue as if he is still running things! At this point, it's hard to tell what the film is implying--whether the evil spirit of Mabuse has moved into the body of the head of the asylum or that the doctor just THINKS this has happened and thinks he's the embodiment of Mabuse. Either possibility is pretty cool, actually.
In the mean time, some nasty and interesting murders occur and the story does seem a bit more conventional. However, unlike one reviewer who disliked this later portion of the film, I actually preferred it and enjoyed the final scenes of the film. It was more exciting and I found myself getting more and more involved with the story.
The movie is super original and weird, but drags a bit in the first half, so an overall score of 7 seems appropriate.