Regie:
Fritz LangCamera:
Fritz Arno WagnerActeurs:
Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Thomy Bourdelle, Gustav Diessl, Rudolf Schündler, Jim Gérald, Theo Lingen, Monique Rolland, Camilla Spira, Otto Wernicke, Theodor Loos (meer)Samenvattingen(1)
The tenuous and terrified atmosphere of Germany on the eve of Nazi ascendancy is cleverly evoked in Fritz Lang's THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE. The film opens with former police officer Hofmeister frantically warning police inspector Lohman of a mysterious gang's activity. He is especially insistant about the gang's leader, but is stopped in mid-confession before he can reveal the leader's identity. Dr. Baum runs the insane asylum where former arch criminal Dr. Mabuse is kept after going insane from his attempts to elude the police. After being incarcerated, Mabuse began writing reams of gibberish prose that gave complex instructions for how to commit crime sprees. When a fellow doctor confronts Dr. Baum with evidence that these exact crimes are coming true, he is mysteriously assassinated. Kent is an unwilling member of the gang and after taking their newest orders from a disembodied voice, he decides to leave the gang. Lohman continues to search for the identity of the gang's leader, as the crime sprees continue, and Mabuse's ghost begins to haunt Dr. Baum. As all of the characters speed chaotically towards the film's dark climax, the idea of a madman controlling a mass of hypnotized people and causing them to commit crimes that he premeditates creates a mystical and simultaneously potent political allegory of Lang's time. (officiële tekst van distribiteur)
(meer)Recensie (1)
It's almost unbelievable how easy Fritz Lang's transition from silent to sound film was. It was like he'd been making sound films his whole life. In the first scene, you feel like the conception of sound and film isn't quite there yet, but then you realize it's all intentional, and those sounds weigh down on you oppressively. The plot is a bit in the B-movie style, but I definitely wouldn't see that as a negative. It's a space for stunning effects that definitely wouldn't look better if they were digital.
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