The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Encyclopedia
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a 1933 German
crime film
directed by Fritz Lang
. The movie is a sequel to Lang's silent film
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) and features many cast and crew members from Lang's previous films. The film features Rudolf Klein-Rogge
as Dr. Mabuse who is in an insane asylum where he is found frantically writing his crime plans. When Mabuse's criminal plans begin to be implemented, Inspector Lohmann (played by Otto Wernicke
) tries to find the solution with clues from gangster Thomas Kent (Gustav Diessl
), the institutionalized Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) and Professor Baum (Oscar Beregi Sr.
) who becomes obsessed with Dr. Mabuse.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was based on elements of author Norbert Jacques
' novel Mabuse's Colony. It was Lang's second sound film
for Nero-Film and was his final collaboration with his wife and screenwriter Thea von Harbou
. To promote the film to a foreign market, a French-language version of the film was made by Lang with the same sets but different actors with the title Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse.
When Adolf Hitler
acquired power, Joseph Goebbels
became minister of the Ministry of Propaganda and banned the film in Germany, suggesting that the film would decrease the audience's confidence in its statesmen. The French-language and German-language versions of the film were released in Europe while several versions of the film were released in the United States to mixed reception with each re-release. The sequel The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was released during 1960 and was also directed by Lang. Modern reception of the film is favorable with critics, while the film has influenced filmmakers including Claude Chabrol
and Artur Brauner
.
Professor Baum (Oscar Beregi, Sr.) introduces the case of Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), the criminal mastermind and hypnotist who ten years earlier went mad. Mabuse spends his days frantically writing detailed plans for crimes while a criminal gang is committing them according to "the plans of the Doctor", with whom they confer only from behind a curtain. When Baum's colleague Dr. Kramm (Theodor Loos) by chance discovers that recent crimes implement Mabuse's writings, Kramm is shot by the gang's execution squad, Hardy and Bredow. A clue sketched in glass at Hofmeister's crime scene causes Lohmann to suspect Mabuse. On arrival at the asylum, Baum reveals that Mabuse has died. When Lohmann disparagingly talks about "Mabuse the criminal", Baum emphatically speaks about "Mabuse the genius".
Baum continues to study Mabuse's writings and seems to confer with ghostly Dr. Mabuse. The spirit of Mabuse speaks about an "unlimited reign of crime" and merges with the Professor's silhouette. During the same night, the hidden Mabuse confers with sections of his organisation, preparing various crimes such as an attack on a chemical plant, robbing a bank, counterfeiting, poisoning water and destroying harvests. One of the gang members, Thomas Kent (Gustav Diessl) is conflicted between his criminal work, which he needs to do for money, and his affection for a young woman named Lilli (Wera Liessem). On a chance meeting with Lilli, Kent confesses his past and his current situation to her. The two decide to inform the police but are abducted and locked in the Mabuse meeting room with the curtain. The hidden Mabuse announces their death when they discover that the curtain only contains a loudspeaker, and that there is a time-bomb. After several escape attempts have failed, they flood the place and break free.
Meanwhile the police are besieging a flat where several gangsters, including Hardy and Bredow, are staying. After a shootout, Hardy commits suicide while the other gangsters surrender. As Bredow testifies that they assassinated Dr. Kramm in the vicinity of the asylum, Lohmann arranges a confrontation between the gangsters and the Professor, which proves inconclusive. On Kent and Lilli's arrival. Baum's shocked reaction to Kent makes Lohmann suspicious. Lohmann and Kent visit the asylum, where they discover that Baum is the mastermind and has planned an attack on a chemical plant that night. Lohmann and Kent go to the exploding plant where they discover Baum watching from afar. Baum flees to the asylum with Lohmann and Kent pursuing. Mabuse's spirit leads Baum to Hofmeister in his cell were he introduces himself as Dr. Mabuse, ending Hofmeister's shock. Baum tries to kill Hofmeister but is stopped by guards, just as Lohmann and Kent arrive. The final scene shows the insane Baum in the cell, tearing Mabuse's writings to shreds.
wrote the original Dr. Mabuse books in the style of other popular thrillers in Europe at the time, such as Nick Carter
, Fantomas
, and Fu Manchu
. Jacques expanded the traits of these books to include critiques on Weimar Germany. During 1930, Jacques was approached by a film producer to develop a story for a new Dr. Mabuse film with a female villain. This caused Jacques to start writing a new novel called Mabuse's Colony. In the novel, a character named Frau Kristine obtains a copy of Mabuse's testament which outlines plans for a future world of terrorism and crime that she uses.
At this time, Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou
were developing the film M
. Von Harbou and Lang were friends with Jacques since creating the first Mabuse film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and went on vacation with each other. Lang asked Jacques for help with the screenplay for M and asked for suggestions for a new Mabuse project. Jacques sent Lang his unfinished work for Mabuse's Colony. Lang used the idea of Mabuse's will from the story and began working on an outline to what would become The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
Using the outline that Lang proposed, Jacques signed a contract during July 1931 for the movie to be written by von Harbou and directed by Lang based on Lang's own outline. The film was released in tandem with Jacques's book. Jacques' contributions are not mentioned in the film. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a direct sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and is related to the film M which features the Inspector Lohmann character.
returned to play Dr. Mabuse as he did in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. Klein-Rogge acted in Lang's earlier films including Destiny, Die Nibelungen
, Metropolis
and Spies
. Otto Wernicke
reprises his role as Inspector Lohmann from Lang's M
. Klaus Pohl plays Lohmann's assistant Muller. Pohl acted in Lang's Woman in the Moon and in an uncredited role in M.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was Lang's second film for the companyNero-Film and producer Seymour Nebenzal
. The film would be the last film collaboration between Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou
, who had worked with Lang on all his directorial efforts since Destiny. Lang's relationship with von Harbou was ending and two would file divorce papers during 1933. Cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner
returned to work with Lang. Their film credits together include M, Spies, and Destiny.
stated that he spent most of the production in a state of panic due to the way Lang would endanger his crew. The film is generally filmed in a realistic style with the exception of Mabuse's ghostly appearances throughout the film. Lang admitted later in interviews that if he could re-do the film, he would not have included these supernatural scenes.
Wagner filmed the explosion scenes at the factory on location
during nighttime. These explosion scenes were the first scenes of the film to be filmed before returning to the studio to film the rest of the film. The film crew had three weeks to prepare for the factory scene by clearing trees and bringing in some artificial trees to match Lang's idea for the scene. The explosion was triggered by Lang himself.
During the early years of sound films before dubbing
and subtitling
, one way to present a film to a foreign audience was to record the film with a translated screenplay with foreign-language cast. As this was a time consuming and expensive procedure, most filmmakers who did this tended to only make one alternative language feature. Producer Seymour Nebenzal
felt that creating this alternative version would enhance international sales for The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. The French-language screenplay was adapted by René Sti. Lang was fluent in French
and directed The Testament of Dr. Mabuse in both French and German
. Actor Karl Meixner played Hofmeister in both versions of the film as he was bilingual. Rudolf Klein-Rogge also features as Mabuse in the French version with his lines being dubbed. The French version, titled Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse, was edited by Lothar Wolff in France while the film was still in production.
acquired power during January 1933 and on March 14, Hitler established the new Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda directed by Joseph Goebbels
. Lang had not finished editing the film, and would not have a print for Goebbels to view until March 23. After a screening for Goebbels, he declared that the premiere would be delayed for technical reasons. Goebbels hosted a meeting at his home between himself, Lang and several other German filmmakers on discussions on what films would be permitted by Nazi censorship. Goebbels referred to Lang's films as the style that Hitler wanted for Nazi Germany. By March 30, the Ministry of Propaganda banned The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as a menace to public health and safety. Goebbels stated that he would not accept the film as it "showed that an extremely dedicated group of people are perfectly capable of overthrowing any state with violence". During the 1940s, Lang stated that a meeting occurred between Goebbels and himself with Goebbels wanting Lang to work for him to create films for the Nazis. This offer caused Lang to leave Germany to France that very night. Goebbels' diary makes no mention of such a meeting and Lang's passport also shows that he did not leave until June and made repeated trips between France and Germany throughout 1933.
The German version of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse premiered on April 21, 1933 in Budapest, Hungary with a playing time of 124 minutes. The French-language version was distributed through Europe. A subtitled version of the French version was released during 1943 with the title The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse in the United States. During 1951, the German version was released in a 75 minute version with the title The Crimes of Dr.Mabuse with featured an English dub. The English subtitles for the 1943 release and the 1952 dub added allusions to Adolf Hitler that were not part of the original script. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was first shown publicly in Germany on August 24, 1961 with a 111-minute running time. During 1973, the unedited German version of the film was released in the United States with the title The Testament of Dr. Mabuse with English subtitles.
wrote that "It is the French version of Fritz Lang's production, "Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse" ("Dr. Mabuse's Will"). It is a hallucinating and horrifying story, depicted with great power and the extraordinary beauty of photography that Lang has led his admirers to expect." At the Hungarian premiere of the German-language print in 1933, Variety
wrote that the film "...certainly shows the influence of American mystery pictures. The story is very long-winded and even an ingenious director like Fritz Lang could not prevent its being rather slow-moving in places."
Bosley Crowther wrote a negative review in The New York Times on the film's 1943 release, stating "it is a good, old film, well played and beautifully directed—- but a battered antique, none the less." On the 1973 re-release, The New York Times wrote a positive review of the film, stating that it "...yields a sensational torrent of images that almost make the early nineteen-seventies seem tame." and "While this "Mabuse" lacks most of the surrealistic effects and the dazzling hallucinations that gave its predecessor such magic, it's rich in the images and the shocks at which Lang excelled." Modern critical reception of the film has been generally positive. Channel 4
gave the film a four stars out of five rating describing the film as a "Sensational crime drama" and "some of the dialogue is clunky, much of the acting...is alien to modern audiences...The final sequence involving the destruction of a huge chemical works and a car chase through eerily lit woods, round hairpin bends and over a closing level crossing is one of the triumphs of early cinema." TV Guide
gave the film a five out of five star rating terming it "a haunting, suspenseful sequel". Critic Leonard Maltin
gave the film three and a half stars out of four and compared it to Dr. Mabuse The Gambler stating that it is "less stylized but no less entertaining". The online film database Allmovie rated the film four stars out five, stating that by "mixing several genres including cop drama
, mystery, and horror
, Lang created a rare hybrid picture full of striking characters and images."
used scenes from the car chase in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse for his own production of Le roi des Champs-Élysées
(1934) featuring Buster Keaton
. Producer Artur Brauner
cited the Dr. Mabuse films as the reason he went into the film industry, noting that he left his parents out in the middle of the night and returned after seeing what he described as "the most exciting film I've ever seen". Brauner later bought the rights to the Dr. Mabuse films and hired Fritz Lang to film a sequel titled The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
. The film was released during 1960 and was Lang's final film as a director. During 1962, a remake of The Testament of Dr.Mabuse was released by director Werner Klingler
.
Brauner produced several other Mabuse films after the release of The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.
Director Claude Chabrol
identified The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as his primary inspiration to become a filmmaker. Chabrol made his own Mabuse inspired film that was released during 1990 titled Dr. M.
DVD
of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was released by The Criterion Collection
on May 18, 2004. This DVD release consists of two discs and contains both the German-language and French-language versions of the film. film critic Dave Kehr
wrote the German print is "the definite version".
The German print of the film on the DVD is missing small parts of the film and runs at 121 minutes. A Region 2 DVD of the film was released by Eureka! in a box set titled The Complete Fritz Lang Box Set. This set included the two other Mabuse films directed by Lang, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...
crime film
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
directed by Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
. The movie is a sequel to Lang's silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) and features many cast and crew members from Lang's previous films. The film features Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Friedrich Rudolf Klein-Rogge was a German film actor. Klein-Rogge is known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a main-stay in director Fritz Lang's Weimar-era films.- Biography :...
as Dr. Mabuse who is in an insane asylum where he is found frantically writing his crime plans. When Mabuse's criminal plans begin to be implemented, Inspector Lohmann (played by Otto Wernicke
Otto Wernicke
Otto Karl Robert Wernicke was a German actor. He was best known for his role as police inspector Karl Lohmann in the two Fritz Lang films M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. He was the first one to portray Captain Smith in the first "official" Titanic film.Wernicke was married to a Jewish woman...
) tries to find the solution with clues from gangster Thomas Kent (Gustav Diessl
Gustav Diessl
Gustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor.-Biography:Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited into the army for World War I...
), the institutionalized Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) and Professor Baum (Oscar Beregi Sr.
Oscar Beregi Sr.
Oscar Beregi, Sr. was a Hungarian film actor. He appeared in 27 films between 1916 and 1953.He was born in Budapest, Hungary and died in Hollywood, California...
) who becomes obsessed with Dr. Mabuse.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was based on elements of author Norbert Jacques
Norbert Jacques
Norbert Jacques was a Luxembourgian german-language novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Luxembourg-Eich, Luxembourg, and died in Koblenz, Germany. He created the character Doctor Mabuse who was a feature of some of his novels, including "Mabuse's Colony". Jacques is known best for his work...
' novel Mabuse's Colony. It was Lang's second sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
for Nero-Film and was his final collaboration with his wife and screenwriter Thea von Harbou
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
. To promote the film to a foreign market, a French-language version of the film was made by Lang with the same sets but different actors with the title Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse.
When Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
acquired power, Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
became minister of the Ministry of Propaganda and banned the film in Germany, suggesting that the film would decrease the audience's confidence in its statesmen. The French-language and German-language versions of the film were released in Europe while several versions of the film were released in the United States to mixed reception with each re-release. The sequel The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was released during 1960 and was also directed by Lang. Modern reception of the film is favorable with critics, while the film has influenced filmmakers including Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
and Artur Brauner
Artur Brauner
Artur "Atze" Brauner is a polish film producer and entrepreneur. He was born to a Jewish family in Łódź, Poland. Artur and his brother Wolf survived the Holocaust by fleeing to the Soviet Union, then emigrated to Berlin after the war. As a young man he saw Fritz Lang's film The Testament of Dr...
.
Plot
In a noisy print shop, a disgraced police detective named Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) escapes from pursuing criminals' attacks. Hofmeister telephones his former superior Inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) and explains frantically that he has discovered a huge criminal conspiracy. Before disclosing the identity of responsible criminal, the lights go out, shots are fired, and Hofmeister becomes mad. Hofmeister vanishes only to be found later singing every time he feels watched, and he is institutionalized at Professor Baum's asylum.Professor Baum (Oscar Beregi, Sr.) introduces the case of Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), the criminal mastermind and hypnotist who ten years earlier went mad. Mabuse spends his days frantically writing detailed plans for crimes while a criminal gang is committing them according to "the plans of the Doctor", with whom they confer only from behind a curtain. When Baum's colleague Dr. Kramm (Theodor Loos) by chance discovers that recent crimes implement Mabuse's writings, Kramm is shot by the gang's execution squad, Hardy and Bredow. A clue sketched in glass at Hofmeister's crime scene causes Lohmann to suspect Mabuse. On arrival at the asylum, Baum reveals that Mabuse has died. When Lohmann disparagingly talks about "Mabuse the criminal", Baum emphatically speaks about "Mabuse the genius".
Baum continues to study Mabuse's writings and seems to confer with ghostly Dr. Mabuse. The spirit of Mabuse speaks about an "unlimited reign of crime" and merges with the Professor's silhouette. During the same night, the hidden Mabuse confers with sections of his organisation, preparing various crimes such as an attack on a chemical plant, robbing a bank, counterfeiting, poisoning water and destroying harvests. One of the gang members, Thomas Kent (Gustav Diessl) is conflicted between his criminal work, which he needs to do for money, and his affection for a young woman named Lilli (Wera Liessem). On a chance meeting with Lilli, Kent confesses his past and his current situation to her. The two decide to inform the police but are abducted and locked in the Mabuse meeting room with the curtain. The hidden Mabuse announces their death when they discover that the curtain only contains a loudspeaker, and that there is a time-bomb. After several escape attempts have failed, they flood the place and break free.
Meanwhile the police are besieging a flat where several gangsters, including Hardy and Bredow, are staying. After a shootout, Hardy commits suicide while the other gangsters surrender. As Bredow testifies that they assassinated Dr. Kramm in the vicinity of the asylum, Lohmann arranges a confrontation between the gangsters and the Professor, which proves inconclusive. On Kent and Lilli's arrival. Baum's shocked reaction to Kent makes Lohmann suspicious. Lohmann and Kent visit the asylum, where they discover that Baum is the mastermind and has planned an attack on a chemical plant that night. Lohmann and Kent go to the exploding plant where they discover Baum watching from afar. Baum flees to the asylum with Lohmann and Kent pursuing. Mabuse's spirit leads Baum to Hofmeister in his cell were he introduces himself as Dr. Mabuse, ending Hofmeister's shock. Baum tries to kill Hofmeister but is stopped by guards, just as Lohmann and Kent arrive. The final scene shows the insane Baum in the cell, tearing Mabuse's writings to shreds.
Cast
- Rudolf Klein-RoggeRudolf Klein-RoggeFriedrich Rudolf Klein-Rogge was a German film actor. Klein-Rogge is known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a main-stay in director Fritz Lang's Weimar-era films.- Biography :...
as Dr. Mabuse - Otto WernickeOtto WernickeOtto Karl Robert Wernicke was a German actor. He was best known for his role as police inspector Karl Lohmann in the two Fritz Lang films M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. He was the first one to portray Captain Smith in the first "official" Titanic film.Wernicke was married to a Jewish woman...
as Inspector Lohmann - Karl Meixner as Detective Hofmeister
- Oscar Beregi Sr. as Professor Baum
- Theodor LoosTheodor LoosTheodor August Konrad Loos was a German actor.The son of a watchmaker and instruments manufacturer, he left secondary school prematurely and worked for three years at an export firm for music instruments in Leipzig, and after that for his uncle, an art dealer in Berlin...
as Dr. Kramm - Gustav DiesslGustav DiesslGustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, and film and stage actor.-Biography:Diessl was born Gustav Karl Balthasar in Vienna. In 1916, he was an extra on different stages in Vienna but was soon recruited into the army for World War I...
as Thomas Kent - Wera Liessem as Lilli
- Rudolf SchündlerRudolf SchündlerRudolf Ernst Paul Schündler was a German actor.- Filmography :-External links:*...
as Hardy - Oskar HöckerOskar HöckerOskar Höcker was a German author of historical novels for children and a stage actor.-Biography:Oskar Höcker was born in a suburb of Eilenburg, like his brother, author Gustav Höcker. He was educated in Chemnitz....
as Bredow - Theo LingenTheo LingenTheo Lingen , born Franz Theodor Schmitz, was a German actor, director and screenwriter. He appeared in over 230 films between 1929 and 1978, and directed 21 films between 1936 and 1960.-Life and career:...
as Karetzki - Hadrian Maria Netto as Nicolai Griforiew
- Camilla SpiraCamilla SpiraCamilla Spira was a German film actress. She appeared in 68 films between 1924 and 1986.She was born in Hamburg, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Piccadilly Zero Hour 12...
as Juwelen-Anna - Georg JohnGeorg JohnGeorg John was a German stage and film actor.-Early life:Georg John was born in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany.- Career :John began his career around 1900 in smaller stages and traveling theatres...
as Baum's servant
Development
Norbert JacquesNorbert Jacques
Norbert Jacques was a Luxembourgian german-language novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Luxembourg-Eich, Luxembourg, and died in Koblenz, Germany. He created the character Doctor Mabuse who was a feature of some of his novels, including "Mabuse's Colony". Jacques is known best for his work...
wrote the original Dr. Mabuse books in the style of other popular thrillers in Europe at the time, such as Nick Carter
Nick Carter (literary character)
Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a pulp fiction private detective and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century.-Literary history:...
, Fantomas
Fantômas
Fantômas is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre .One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared in a total of 32 volumes written by the two collaborators, then a subsequent 11...
, and Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu
Dr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century...
. Jacques expanded the traits of these books to include critiques on Weimar Germany. During 1930, Jacques was approached by a film producer to develop a story for a new Dr. Mabuse film with a female villain. This caused Jacques to start writing a new novel called Mabuse's Colony. In the novel, a character named Frau Kristine obtains a copy of Mabuse's testament which outlines plans for a future world of terrorism and crime that she uses.
At this time, Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
were developing the film M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
. Von Harbou and Lang were friends with Jacques since creating the first Mabuse film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and went on vacation with each other. Lang asked Jacques for help with the screenplay for M and asked for suggestions for a new Mabuse project. Jacques sent Lang his unfinished work for Mabuse's Colony. Lang used the idea of Mabuse's will from the story and began working on an outline to what would become The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
Using the outline that Lang proposed, Jacques signed a contract during July 1931 for the movie to be written by von Harbou and directed by Lang based on Lang's own outline. The film was released in tandem with Jacques's book. Jacques' contributions are not mentioned in the film. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a direct sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and is related to the film M which features the Inspector Lohmann character.
Preproduction
Many members of the cast and crew worked with Lang previously on his earlier films. Rudolf Klein-RoggeRudolf Klein-Rogge
Friedrich Rudolf Klein-Rogge was a German film actor. Klein-Rogge is known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a main-stay in director Fritz Lang's Weimar-era films.- Biography :...
returned to play Dr. Mabuse as he did in Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. Klein-Rogge acted in Lang's earlier films including Destiny, Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen is a series of two silent fantasy films created by Austrian director Fritz Lang in 1924: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge....
, Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
and Spies
Spione
Spione is a German silent espionage thriller written and directed by Fritz Lang in 1928. Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, worked as a co-writer. The film was Lang's penultimate silent film, and the first for his own production company; Fritz Lang-film GmbH. As in Lang's Mabuse films, such as Dr...
. Otto Wernicke
Otto Wernicke
Otto Karl Robert Wernicke was a German actor. He was best known for his role as police inspector Karl Lohmann in the two Fritz Lang films M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. He was the first one to portray Captain Smith in the first "official" Titanic film.Wernicke was married to a Jewish woman...
reprises his role as Inspector Lohmann from Lang's M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
. Klaus Pohl plays Lohmann's assistant Muller. Pohl acted in Lang's Woman in the Moon and in an uncredited role in M.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was Lang's second film for the companyNero-Film and producer Seymour Nebenzal
Seymour Nebenzal
Seymour Nebenzal was a German film producer. He produced 46 films between 1927 and 1961.He got into film production through his father Heinrich Nebenzahl who in the early 1920s worked with German action star Harry Piel. In 1926 Heinrich Nebenzahl and director-producer Richard Oswald founded the...
. The film would be the last film collaboration between Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou
Thea von Harbou
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. She was born in Tauperlitz in the Kingdom of Bavaria.-Early work:...
, who had worked with Lang on all his directorial efforts since Destiny. Lang's relationship with von Harbou was ending and two would file divorce papers during 1933. Cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner
Fritz Arno Wagner
Fritz Arno Wagner is considered one of the most acclaimed German cinematographers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He played a key role in the Expressionist film movement during the Weimar period and is perhaps best known for excelling in "in the portrayal of horror" according to noted film critic...
returned to work with Lang. Their film credits together include M, Spies, and Destiny.
Filming
Lang filmed The Testament of Dr. Mabuse at the end of 1932 and the beginning of 1933, desiring to have the film viewed worldwide. In his film, where gun-play, fires, or explosions are needed, Lang often used real weapons. In the opening scene during a power outage, a stunt actor did the gun play. Cinematographer Fritz Arno WagnerFritz Arno Wagner
Fritz Arno Wagner is considered one of the most acclaimed German cinematographers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He played a key role in the Expressionist film movement during the Weimar period and is perhaps best known for excelling in "in the portrayal of horror" according to noted film critic...
stated that he spent most of the production in a state of panic due to the way Lang would endanger his crew. The film is generally filmed in a realistic style with the exception of Mabuse's ghostly appearances throughout the film. Lang admitted later in interviews that if he could re-do the film, he would not have included these supernatural scenes.
Wagner filmed the explosion scenes at the factory on location
Location shooting
Location shooting is the practice of filming in an actual setting rather than on a sound stage or back lot. In filmmaking a location is any place where a film crew will be filming actors and recording their dialog. A location where dialog is not recorded may be considered as a second unit...
during nighttime. These explosion scenes were the first scenes of the film to be filmed before returning to the studio to film the rest of the film. The film crew had three weeks to prepare for the factory scene by clearing trees and bringing in some artificial trees to match Lang's idea for the scene. The explosion was triggered by Lang himself.
During the early years of sound films before dubbing
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
and subtitling
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
, one way to present a film to a foreign audience was to record the film with a translated screenplay with foreign-language cast. As this was a time consuming and expensive procedure, most filmmakers who did this tended to only make one alternative language feature. Producer Seymour Nebenzal
Seymour Nebenzal
Seymour Nebenzal was a German film producer. He produced 46 films between 1927 and 1961.He got into film production through his father Heinrich Nebenzahl who in the early 1920s worked with German action star Harry Piel. In 1926 Heinrich Nebenzahl and director-producer Richard Oswald founded the...
felt that creating this alternative version would enhance international sales for The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. The French-language screenplay was adapted by René Sti. Lang was fluent in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and directed The Testament of Dr. Mabuse in both French and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. Actor Karl Meixner played Hofmeister in both versions of the film as he was bilingual. Rudolf Klein-Rogge also features as Mabuse in the French version with his lines being dubbed. The French version, titled Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse, was edited by Lothar Wolff in France while the film was still in production.
Post-production
For the film, Lang commissioned a composer for the first time. Hans Erdmann created the opening theme and the music played during Professor Baum's madness. The soundtrack in the film is deceptive. As in Lang's M, the film's music and sound are a subtle mix of actual silence with accompanying music and more or less realistic sound effects. Lang worked with his German editor Conrad von Molo directly on the post-production process. Lang was known for making very long films and to suit foreign fashions, editor Lothar Wolff was contracted to shorten the French-language version. This version deletes parts from the romantic sub-plot between Lilli and Kent.Release
The film was scheduled for release on March 24, 1933 at the UFA-Palast am Zoo, the same theater that hosted the original premiere of Dr. Mabuse the Gambler during 1922. Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
acquired power during January 1933 and on March 14, Hitler established the new Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda directed by Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
. Lang had not finished editing the film, and would not have a print for Goebbels to view until March 23. After a screening for Goebbels, he declared that the premiere would be delayed for technical reasons. Goebbels hosted a meeting at his home between himself, Lang and several other German filmmakers on discussions on what films would be permitted by Nazi censorship. Goebbels referred to Lang's films as the style that Hitler wanted for Nazi Germany. By March 30, the Ministry of Propaganda banned The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as a menace to public health and safety. Goebbels stated that he would not accept the film as it "showed that an extremely dedicated group of people are perfectly capable of overthrowing any state with violence". During the 1940s, Lang stated that a meeting occurred between Goebbels and himself with Goebbels wanting Lang to work for him to create films for the Nazis. This offer caused Lang to leave Germany to France that very night. Goebbels' diary makes no mention of such a meeting and Lang's passport also shows that he did not leave until June and made repeated trips between France and Germany throughout 1933.
The German version of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse premiered on April 21, 1933 in Budapest, Hungary with a playing time of 124 minutes. The French-language version was distributed through Europe. A subtitled version of the French version was released during 1943 with the title The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse in the United States. During 1951, the German version was released in a 75 minute version with the title The Crimes of Dr.Mabuse with featured an English dub. The English subtitles for the 1943 release and the 1952 dub added allusions to Adolf Hitler that were not part of the original script. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was first shown publicly in Germany on August 24, 1961 with a 111-minute running time. During 1973, the unedited German version of the film was released in the United States with the title The Testament of Dr. Mabuse with English subtitles.
Reception
During 1938, Goebbels wrote that on looking at the film that he was "struck by the dullness of its portrayal, the coarseness of its construction, and the inadequacy of its acting." Despite Goebbels statement, he would present the film uncensored from time to time in private screening rooms for close personal friends. On the French release, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that "It is the French version of Fritz Lang's production, "Le Testament du Dr. Mabuse" ("Dr. Mabuse's Will"). It is a hallucinating and horrifying story, depicted with great power and the extraordinary beauty of photography that Lang has led his admirers to expect." At the Hungarian premiere of the German-language print in 1933, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote that the film "...certainly shows the influence of American mystery pictures. The story is very long-winded and even an ingenious director like Fritz Lang could not prevent its being rather slow-moving in places."
Bosley Crowther wrote a negative review in The New York Times on the film's 1943 release, stating "it is a good, old film, well played and beautifully directed—- but a battered antique, none the less." On the 1973 re-release, The New York Times wrote a positive review of the film, stating that it "...yields a sensational torrent of images that almost make the early nineteen-seventies seem tame." and "While this "Mabuse" lacks most of the surrealistic effects and the dazzling hallucinations that gave its predecessor such magic, it's rich in the images and the shocks at which Lang excelled." Modern critical reception of the film has been generally positive. Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
gave the film a four stars out of five rating describing the film as a "Sensational crime drama" and "some of the dialogue is clunky, much of the acting...is alien to modern audiences...The final sequence involving the destruction of a huge chemical works and a car chase through eerily lit woods, round hairpin bends and over a closing level crossing is one of the triumphs of early cinema." TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
gave the film a five out of five star rating terming it "a haunting, suspenseful sequel". Critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
gave the film three and a half stars out of four and compared it to Dr. Mabuse The Gambler stating that it is "less stylized but no less entertaining". The online film database Allmovie rated the film four stars out five, stating that by "mixing several genres including cop drama
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
, mystery, and horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, Lang created a rare hybrid picture full of striking characters and images."
Legacy
After the films initial release, producer Seymour NebenzalSeymour Nebenzal
Seymour Nebenzal was a German film producer. He produced 46 films between 1927 and 1961.He got into film production through his father Heinrich Nebenzahl who in the early 1920s worked with German action star Harry Piel. In 1926 Heinrich Nebenzahl and director-producer Richard Oswald founded the...
used scenes from the car chase in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse for his own production of Le roi des Champs-Élysées
Le Roi des Champs-Élysées
Le Roi des Champs-Élysées is a 1934 French comedy starring Buster Keaton. This French-made film has Keaton playing two roles, as an aspiring actor, and as an American gangster. A closing gag has the typically deadpan Keaton breaking out into a big grin after being kissed.Most all of Keaton's...
(1934) featuring Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
. Producer Artur Brauner
Artur Brauner
Artur "Atze" Brauner is a polish film producer and entrepreneur. He was born to a Jewish family in Łódź, Poland. Artur and his brother Wolf survived the Holocaust by fleeing to the Soviet Union, then emigrated to Berlin after the war. As a young man he saw Fritz Lang's film The Testament of Dr...
cited the Dr. Mabuse films as the reason he went into the film industry, noting that he left his parents out in the middle of the night and returned after seeing what he described as "the most exciting film I've ever seen". Brauner later bought the rights to the Dr. Mabuse films and hired Fritz Lang to film a sequel titled The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse is a 1960 film made in West Germany. It was the last film directed by Fritz Lang and concerned the further exploits of Dr. Mabuse, a character Lang had used in two previous films in 1922 and 1933.The movie, based on the Esperanto novel Mr...
. The film was released during 1960 and was Lang's final film as a director. During 1962, a remake of The Testament of Dr.Mabuse was released by director Werner Klingler
Werner Klingler
Werner Klingler was a German film director and actor. He directed 29 films between 1936 and 1968.He was born in Stuttgart, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Titanic...
.
Brauner produced several other Mabuse films after the release of The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.
Director Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
identified The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as his primary inspiration to become a filmmaker. Chabrol made his own Mabuse inspired film that was released during 1990 titled Dr. M.
Home media
A Region 1DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was released by The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
on May 18, 2004. This DVD release consists of two discs and contains both the German-language and French-language versions of the film. film critic Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr is an American film critic. A critic at the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune for many years, he writes a weekly column for The New York Times on DVD releases, in addition to contributing occasional pieces on individual films or filmmakers.-Early life and education:Dave Kehr did...
wrote the German print is "the definite version".
The German print of the film on the DVD is missing small parts of the film and runs at 121 minutes. A Region 2 DVD of the film was released by Eureka! in a box set titled The Complete Fritz Lang Box Set. This set included the two other Mabuse films directed by Lang, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse.
External links
- The Testament of Dr. Mabuse at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
(German language version) - The Testament of Dr. Mabuse at the Internet Movie Database (French language version)