User Reviews

"Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse" or "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" or "The Terror of Doctor Mabuse" is a West German black-and-white film from 1962, so this one has its 55th anniversary this year already. If you read the names Klingler, Fodor and Stemmle, you have a bunch of people who made this that were very experienced back then and very known too as they also worked on quite a few films that are still known today from back then. Anyway, the title is of course already a giveaway that this is one of the many German films about Dr. Mabuse and it is actually a remake of the 1933 film that was already a sound film as well. And fittingly with the popularity of the Mabuse character, it is no surprise that the likes of Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Rolf Eden and Harald Juhnke are in here. Also a very young Senta Berger plays the most important female character, even if this was not even from the very early days of her career. The story is similar to what you would expect if you have seen some other Mabuse stuff. It may sound a bit unfair, but I do believe that in terms of story, contents and characters you have seen all of the later Mabuse films if you have seen one of them. There is always a touch of mystery and a lot of crime. Cops investigating and nobody really ever knows how much Mabuse is involved in everything. The horror component is missing though in my opinion, even if the IMDb genre description thinks otherwise. The story here did not convince me either and as I wrote in the title of my review, this is quite a pity because the case offered potential for much more, especially also in my very subjective case because I like Fröbe quite a lot. But he just did not have the material here to shine and even his physical approach to the character was not working this time too much. The final scene with him (maybe that was a bit of horror) cannot make up for all the mediocrity before it. Having seen pretty much all the German Mabuse films (even one by Jess Franco), I must say that the character's appeal back then and still today remains a mystery to me. I give this movie here a thumbs-down as well and don't recommend watching it. 85 very forgettable minutes overall.

Perhaps I should have researched this film before purchasing it because it took a while ago understand the plot. Part of a series of films, this appears to be a combination of crime film, espionage thriller and psychological horror. It focuses on a mad doctor, being held in an institution and the impact that his genius has through possible assumed mind control. Dubbed from German into English, this features actors familiar to American audiences, and you may find yourself laughing at the sight and sounds of "Hogan's Heroes" veteran Leon Askin being dubbed with a voice white different than his own. Gert Frobe, best known to me as the comically evil Baron from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", is unrecognizable to me in the title role, but it has Bern many years since I've seen his most famous role, Goldfinger.

The fact that this doesn't seem to fall into one genre of film makes it a major curiosity, but there are a few scenes which gave me pause for thought. I really wished that I had seem the previous entry. I mention this for the benefit of anybody who gets this first. Artistically, this is superb, reminding me of early German expressionism and the French new wave which lead to American film noir. The conclusion seems to have been influenced by "The Lady From Shanghai", making me wonder how Orson Welles might have fit into this. I know that I will re-visit this after seeing its predecessor(s).