Overview: Fritz Lang made two of the defining works of early German cinema with Dr Mabuse the Gambler and The Testament of Dr Mabuse, two masterpieces centered on Norbert Jacques’ nefarious literary supervillain. In 1960, Lang was charged by Artur Brauner’s CCC Film with making a third crime thriller centered on the infamous Dr Mabuse, completing a trilogy nearly forty years in the making.

A huge success, The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse gave CCC the confidence to launch into an entire series focused on the master criminal between 1960 and 1964, all starring Wolfgang Priess in the title role. All six films are presented here alongside a wealth of new and archival extras.

Directed by Fritz Lang, Harald Reinl, Werner Klingler, Paul May and Hugo Fregonese, the CCC Mabuse series continues Fritz Lang’s legacy. The Masters of Cinema series is honored to collect all six of the 1960’s Mabuse films together in this set, presented in high definition from 2K restorations and available for the first time on Blu-ray in the US.

Blu-ray Verdict: In Fritz Lang’s final film, The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse, the eponymous master of disguise (Priess) re-emerges in the Cold War era after a lengthy absence - and uses all manner of methods to insight murder and mayhem.

The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse represents my first venture into the world of Dr. Mabuse. Pigeon-holing this movie into a single genre is difficult. It’s one part traditional krimi, one part spy movie, and one part thriller. Combined, these elements create, at least for me, a one-of-a-kind experience that I really can’t compare with much of anything I’ve seen before.

I refuse to give the normal plot synopsis. Any plot details or other information would ruin the many twists and surprises found in The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. Fortunately for me, I went into the movie completely blind, knowing very little of what to expect, and if you can do the same I highly recommend doing so.

That said, if The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse has one weakness, it’s the slow pace of the second act. The pace grinds to a crawl as the police begin their investigation into the events taking place. While it’s fairly interesting and Gert Forbe is a good enough actor, there’s not enough action in this portion of the film when compared with what came before and what comes afterward. A little more pep in the middle third of the film would have made it a real winner with me.

The Return of Dr Mabuse sees him use brainwashed prison inmates to commit a litany of crimes while evading the German authorities and the FBI.

This is a highly enjoyable German crime thriller that stars Gert Goldfinger Frobe as police commissioner Lohmann, faced with a series of crimes perpetrated by convicts. These convicts have been turned into obedient slaves by the nefarious, mysterious mastermind Dr. Mabuse, and are able to escape prison and return there once their deeds are done.

Giving Lohmann an assist is American FBI agent Joe Como (Lex Barker); also involved is a sexy female reporter, Maria Sabrehm (the delectable Daliah Lavi).

Capably directed by Harald Reinl (The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism), this is good, zesty entertainment that gets by due to effective lighting schemes, a swift pace, and a snappy script. The movie rarely stops moving, presumably to keep us focused on the story and prevent us from thinking about it too much.

It’s a delight to see heavyset, jovial Frobe as a hero, and Barker (just one of many Tarzan performers over the years) is solid as a character about whom you’re never quite sure; whose side is he really on? Lavi is appealing while also functioning as major eye candy. The strong supporting cast includes Fausto Tozzi as the sleazy looking Warden Wolf, Werner Peters as his associate Bohmler, Wolfgang Preiss as the slippery Mabuse, Rudolf Forster as a disgraced chemist, Rudolf Fernau as a priest, and Joachim Mock as Detective Voss.

Sometimes startlingly violent (one victim is turned into a human torch), but pretty stylish throughout, The Return of Dr. Mabuse is just plain fun for any lover of this film series.

In The Invisible Dr Mabuse, he seeks to use an amazing new invention - a device that renders the user invisible - to his own ends.

This is the fourth in the 1960 west German Dr Mabuse series and while it is above average for the series it does mean that it is a cut above most other thrillers of the time.

A young actress (Karin Dor as Liane) in a Grand Guigonol/circus troupe seems to be haunted by a ghost. A government operative is investigating the troupe and meets his end via a killer clown. The FBI sends in Joe Como (Lex Barker from the 2nd in the series, The Return of Dr Mabuse). Joe and Liane cross paths.

Liane’s former boyfriend had created an invisibility gadget, but he presumably was killed in a car accident. Dr Mabuse and his gang think that Liane knows the whereabouts of the invisibility device. The boyfriend is in fact not dead but horribly mangled due to the crash and is using the gadget to stay near his love.

Mabuse and Joe Como both attempt to wrest the gadget from the boyfriend, but it looks like Mabuse may have the upper hand and chaos will reign supreme. An invisible gang of super criminals would be hard to beat!

In the series of Mabuse thrillers this one grades out at #5 of the 6 but way above the lesser-loved Death Ray Of Dr Mabuse, in my humble opinion.

The Testament of Dr Mabuse - a remake of Lang’s earlier film - has the German police tying themselves in knots as they try to figure out how their adversary could be continuing his reign of terror from inside an asylum.

Compared to most films in Hollywood in the 1930s, Fritz Lang’s mystery thriller The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is years ahead of the game in terms of plot and camera techniques. There are some shots in this movie that would not be seen until Orson Welles’ famous Citizen Kane, which forever changed the cinema.

However, I think it’s safe to say that Lang was doing the same thing in Germany at the time when Nazi rule was in the wake. In this complex and filling story, a veteran criminal with a brilliant mind has been in an insane asylum for ten years yet is writing memoirs that seem to predict crimes happening outside.

The Inspector Lohmann attempts to solve this case, not knowing how strange and convoluted it really is. Despite the complexity of it, this film is rather easy to follow and boasts some great performances and use of sound. Considering this was only Lang’s second film using sound, it is a wonder he did what he could with it.

The movie opens with a noisy print shop and a man hiding behind a huge trunk. The loud and obnoxious noise of the printer continues all throughout the scene and shows what sound can really do to a film. All in all, Lang shows his pioneering ability to use the resources available in ways no one had thought of at the time. There are hints of German Expressionism here, but mostly just a well-told and engaging detective story that certainly will not age any time soon.

In Scotland Yard Hunts Dr Mabuse, Mabuse’s tentacles begin to creep across the English Channel. Doctor Mabuse (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Wolfgang Preiss) is physically dead, but his ideas live on and have now been taken over by Dr. Pohland (Walter Rilla) taken possession. Together with his helpers (GERMAN FILM AWARD (h.c.) winner Dieter Borche and Wolfgang Lukschy) he tries to get possession of a mysterious camera. With this device you can make other people do the craziest things, up to and including murder.

But the other side is also wide awake: Inspector Vulpius (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Werner Peters) from Hamburg and Major Tern (Peter van Eyck) from Scotland Yard team up. They also get help from the secret service (GERMAN FILM AWARD winner Klaus Kinski) and from the major’s smart mother (Agnes Windeck), who likes to combine reading crime novels with teatime. And then there is the enchanting scientist’s daughter Nancy (Sabine Bethmann), who is so wonderfully helpless and in need of protection.

For me, this is a rather weaker horror crime thriller from the heyday of the genre! There would then only be one more film in the Doctor Mabuse franchise, The Death Ray of Dr Mabuse ... and that is up next! In it, the criminal mastermind comes to possess a weapon capable of unleashing untold destruction.

A direct sequel to Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse from one year earlier, normally you don’t need to watch any of the other Dr. Mabuse movies in order to watch just one but this movie might be an exception to that.

In his third Mabuse mission, Peter van Eyck chases mysterious death rays invented by a professor played by O. E. Hasse (known from I CONFESS by Alfred Hitchcock). All of this is combined with a spy plot with timid science fiction elements. The West German James Bond Peter von Eyck receives female support in this film from Rika Dialina and Yvonne Furneaux, who remain very colorless.

There are also interesting supporting roles from two well-known faces from various CINECITTA films: Yoko Tani shines as a seductive secretary, and Feodor Chaliapin Jr. can be seen as a pharmacist, which is a rather nice treat.

In West German cinemas, just over 1.2 million visitors wanted to see the sixth film in the Mabuse series, but the final farewell to Doctor Mabuse was inevitable after this contribution, as we all now know.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
NEW 2K RESTORATIONS OF ALL SIX FILMS
Original German audio and optional English dubs on select films
Optional English subtitles
Archival audio commentary on The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse by film historian and author David Kalat
New audio commentaries on the other five films by film historian and author David Kalat
Mabuse Lives at CCC – New interview with producer and managing director of CCC Film Alice Brauner, daughter of CCC founder Artur Brauner
New introductions to each film by genre film expert and Video Watchdog founder Tim Lucas
Kriminology – new video essay by David Cairns & Fiona Watson
2002 interview with actor Wolfgang Preiss
Alternate endings for The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse and The Death Ray of Dr Mabuse
Limited edition hardcase featuring new artwork by Tony Stella
A limited edition 60-page collector’s book featuring new notes on each film by journalist Holger Haase, a new essay by German film scholar Tim Bergfelder, an archival essay by David Cairns, archival writing by Fritz Lang and notes by Lotte Eisner on Lang’s final unreleased projects

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