Testament Of Dr. Mabuse

Year: 1933

Grade: B

Country: Germany

Director: Lang

Review

on its surface “testament of dr. mabuse” is a detective mystery not unlike lang’s “M.” on this level alone the film is interesting enough to keep one’s attention, but, of course, the film functions on other levels as well. “M” was originally slated to be called “the murderers among us,” but apparently that title was censored. i mention this to illustrate the fact that lang was aware of, and concerned about, the danger that nazism posed in the early 30s; and i think this film extends that idea. the testament of dr. mabuse is a collection of written works from a deranged doctor. the work takes on a life of its own when another doctor reads the writings which outline a culture of crime and fear, and decides to make them a reality. clearly there is a subtext here about the danger of ideas, and men who fanatically mete them out. a lot of the transitions in the film are composed like a musical medley – there are some sound bridges, some instances where the first part of a sentence will be completed in a different scene after a cut, and sometimes there will be a sort of visual rhyme connecting two scenes. i don’t know if there was any larger purpose behind this besides the aesthetic one. speaking of aesthetics…i really liked some of the art direction of the film. some of the set/production design was really really great – the notebooks dr. mabuse wrote in, for example, were great. good looking, rich, well-done film… it even has some comic relief.