|
|
THE CRIMES OF DR. MABUSE |
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
This fast-paced entertainment, with its narrow escapes, high-speed chases and spectacular explosions, could be the template for every 007 and Jason Bourne thriller to hit the screen in the last three quarters of a century. The story picks up ten years after the events depicted in Lang's 1922 silent classic Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler with the criminal mastermind (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) in the same spot the director left him--confined to a padded cell in an insane asylum. Somehow, he's still able to plan and execute acts of anti-state terrorism such as counterfeiting and industrial sabotage. An ornery but likable Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), last seen pursuing Peter Lorre's child murderer in the 1931 M, is now on the trail of the nefarious Dr. Mabuse and his underworld empire.
This is the 75-minute German version (Lang also made a longer French version using a different cast) which was excellently dubbed into English for its US premiere in New York in 1943. All versions of the film were banned in Germany by the Nazi government. Also showing: the Betty Boop cartoon "Minnie the Moocher" and the musical short subject "Singapore Sue."
|
|||||||