The will of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

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Movie
Original title The will of Dr. Mabuse
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1933
length 115 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Fritz Lang
script Thea of ​​Harbou
production Fritz Lang ,
Seymour Nebenzal
music Hans Erdmann
camera Fritz Arno Wagner ,
Karl Vass
cut Lothar Wolff ,
Conrad von Molo
occupation

The will of Dr. Mabuse is a feature film by Fritz Lang that was shot in 1932/1933. The screenplay is based on a novel by Norbert Jacques , which was written at Lang's request in 1932, but was initially not published. The film is considered one of the great classics of world cinema between the two world wars . It was created simultaneously in a German and a French version. Both versions were immediately banned by the National Socialists because of the politically explosive allusions.

action

Famous for his hypnotic abilities, the criminal Dr. Mabuse is in Professor Baum's mental hospital . In a state of madness , he ceaselessly writes down plans for murder and terrorism, which, like instructions, are mysteriously implemented by a criminal organization, although Mabuse's plans are not accessible to the crooks themselves. The police are puzzled, also because the crimes committed appear pointless and more like acts of maddening lust for destruction. Even the crooks themselves are not privy to the deeper meaning of their deeds and receive their orders via notes and from a boss of the gang who is always hidden behind a curtain.

Kent, a member of the "Organization" willing to drop out, finally informs Commissioner Lohmann that Dr. Mabuse is behind the crimes. But Mabuse has already passed away - although the plans from his written “will” are still being carried out. Lohmann, who is repeatedly led on the trail of the insane asylum, finds out that the dead Mabuse has taken possession of the director of the asylum, Professor Baum. When the organization goes to extremes and wants to blow up a chemical factory, the police can no longer prevent this, but thanks to the discovery of Mabuse's plans by Lohmann and Kent, the fire brigade is on site in good time to at least remove the tank wagons with chemical To bring substances out of the danger zone. At the scene of the crime is Baum, who, after a surreal car chase, chased by Lohmann and Kent, flees to his own asylum, where he, now completely insane, is being kept as a patient. At the end he is seen sitting in a cell, tearing up manuscript pages in a state of complete derision.

background

The film is staged as an extremely exciting crime film, but also presents the theme of madness, which appears again and again and in various facets, in a very impressive way. Politically, the film was to be understood as a critical allusion to the National Socialists, whose leader Adolf Hitler, as is well known, also wrote his programmatic work Mein Kampf while in captivity. Whole slogans and beliefs from the approaching Nazi state were put into the mouths of the criminals.

The goal of Mabuse in the film is to establish a "rule of crime", which is to be achieved through intimidation and terror against the population. The bureaucratic and work-sharing way of working of the "organization" is also discussed , in which hardly anyone questions the meaning of their individual criminal acts (e.g. the murder of witnesses). The main method of conveying commands within the organization is anonymous technical media such as notes, telephones and loudspeakers.

Joseph Goebbels commented on this film in his diary: “Very exciting. But cannot be released. Instructions for crime. ”The Reich Propaganda Minister had the film banned on March 29, 1933. After Lang's emigration , the production company tried to create a defused version through a few cuts and re-shot recordings, but found no approval from the new German rulers; so the film could initially only be shown in Austria. For years, until the original was reconstructed in 1973, only a very shortened version was in circulation.

The film premiered on April 21, 1933 in Budapest , then on May 12, 1933 in Austria and in 1943 in the USA. The film was first shown in Germany on August 24, 1951, after the Second World War .

French version and remake

The French version of the film Le testament du Docteur Mabuse (1932/1933) was shot simultaneously with the German version. The technical team and part of the actors were retained. The scenario was translated into French by René Sti . According to the censorship card of March 29, 1933, the film was banned in Germany. A copy was smuggled to France and compiled there by Lothar Wolff . You are missing parts of the German version. In 1943 Fritz Lang wrote a special foreword to this version.

In 1962, as part of a crime series inspired by Edgar Wallace on the subject of Dr. Mabuse a remake of this film directed by Werner Klingler (see The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1962) ). This time Mabuse was played by Wolfgang Preiss , Baum (as Pohland) by Walter Rilla and Commissioner Lohmann by Gert Fröbe . Other roles included Senta Berger and Harald Juhnke .

literature

  • Lotte Eisner : Fritz Lang. DA CAPO PR, London 1976, ISBN 0-306-80271-6 .
  • Joe Hembus , Christa Bandmann : Classics of the German sound film. 1930-1960. Goldmann Magnum / Citadel film books. Goldmann, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-442-10207-3 .
  • Norbert Jacques : Dr. Mabuse, medium of evil. Part 3: The will of Dr. Mabuse. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-499-13954-5 . (With the correspondence between Norbert Jacques / Thea von Harbou / Fritz Lang and statements by Fritz Lang on his Mabuse films. With essays by Elisabeth Bronfen et al.).
  • Rudolf Freund The will of Dr. Mabuse. In: Günther Dahlke, Günther Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginnings to 1933. A film guide. 2nd edition, p. 318 f. Henschel Verlag, Berlin 1993 ISBN 3-89487-009-5 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Goebbels: Diaries. Entry from October 30, 1933. The entry on March 29, 1933: Film “Dr. Mabuse ”by Fritz Lang. Practical guide to crime. Will be banned.
The Dr. Mabuse films
1920s and 1930s

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) | The will of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

1960s

The 1000 eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) | In the steel network of Dr. Mabuse (1961) | The invisible claws of Dr. Mabuse (1961) | The will of Dr. Mabuse (1962) | Scotland Yard is chasing Dr. Mabuse (1963) | The death rays of Dr. Mabuse (1964)

Other films (selection)

The living corpses of Dr. Mabuse (1970) | Dr. M strikes (1972) | Bruce Lee - The Secret of the Green Hornet (1966/1975) | Kottan investigates: Mabuse returns (1983) | Dr. M (1990)