Welcome back to another installment of Disc Dive! This week I’ve got a movie that was a blind-buy during the last 50% off Criterion sale. Let’s check in on the Doctor as we dive into… The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933).
Title: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Director: Fritz Lang
Released: April 21, 1933 (Theatrical – Finland, Hungary, Sweden)
Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes
Disc Format: Criterion DVD
Former detective Hofmeister (Karl Meixner) is frantically trying to get in contact with his former supervisor, Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke). Hofmeister believes he’s cracked a huge criminal conspiracy. But before he can say who’s behind it, someone cuts the lights and opens fire. Hofmeister resurfaces locked inside an asylum.
Meanwhile, Dr. Baum (Oscar Beregi Sr.), who runs the asylum, is presenting the case of Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge). Dr. Mabuse is a hypnotist and criminal genius who went mad nearly a decade ago. He now spends his days locked away and writing furiously in his notebooks.
Just because he’s been locked away, doesn’t mean that Dr. Mabuse doesn’t still have pull in the criminal world. In fact, a recent string of crimes in the city are eerily similar to the frantic writings of Dr. Mabuse.
When Dr. Mabuse passes away, the crimes don’t stop.
Even from beyond the grave, the Doctor’s influence doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) is not a film that holds your hand.
In fact, as I found out after watching this, it isn’t even where the story begins. This is actually a sequel to Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (1922). But if you’re like me and haven’t seen The Gambler, fear not, as you don’t need to see it before watching this. The case presentation given by Dr. Baum gives you the backstory needed to get up to speed.
But then there’s also the story behind the film itself.
Lang completed The Testament of Dr. Mabuse in 1933, the same year the Nazi party rose to power in Germany. The film was promptly banned by Joseph Goebbels. And yet, in a bizarre turn, Goebbels reportedly called Lang to a meeting to offer him the job of overseeing all German cinema. Lang left the country shortly after and never made another film in Germany. The film itself didn’t have a public showing in Germany until 1961.
Knowing that, it’s pretty hard to watch this as purely a thriller. It’s just as much a warning about the methods of fascism that, unfortunately, is still relevant today.
Lang isn’t interested in explaining the mechanics of what’s happening on screen. He’s more interested in the feeling that the mechanisms are already in motion. The production design does a lot of work here. The asylum is cold and institutional, all hard lines and long corridors, while the criminal underworld feels comparably chaotic and cramped. Fritz Arno Wagner’s cinematography ties it all together nicely, leaning into deep shadows and off-kilter framing to keep you just as unsettled as the characters on screen.
Klein-Rogge is remarkable considering how little he actually gets to do physically. And Wernicke as Lohmann is a lot of fun. He’s gruff and no-nonsense in a way that grounds the whole thing when it starts getting weird.
If you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favor and seek this one out.
Now it’s your turn!
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