The death rays of Dr. Mabuse

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Movie
German title The death rays of Dr. Mabuse
Original title The death rays of Dr. Mabuse / Les rayons de la mort du Docteur Mabuse / I raggi mortali del Dr. Mabuse
The death rays of the Dr Mabuse Logo 001.svg
Country of production Germany , France , Italy
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Hugo Fregonese
script Ladislas Fodor
production CCC Filmkunst GmbH ( Artur Brauner ),
Franco London Film SA (Henri Deutschmeister),
Critérion Film SA,
Serena Film SARL,
Anglo Italia Film SARL
music Carlos Diernhammer ,
Oskar Sala
camera Riccardo Pallottini
cut Alfred Srp
occupation
synchronization
chronology

←  Predecessor
Scotland Yard is chasing Dr. Mabuse

The death rays of Dr. Mabuse is a crime film that was shot in West Berlin and Italy in 1964 under the direction of Hugo Fregonese . It is the sixth and final part of the Dr. Mabuse film series from the 1960s. The black and white film produced by Artur Brauner was made with the participation of Franco London Film SA ( Paris ), Critérion Film SA (Paris) and Serena Film SARL ( Rome ) and in collaboration with Anglo Italia Film SARL (Rome). The nationwide cinema release was on September 18, 1964.

action

The setting was London and the fictional location Belmare in the south of the island of Malta (picture). However, the film was shot in Italy and West Berlin.

The ghost of the late super criminal Dr. Mabuse had once taken possession of Professor Pohland, who has been in a mental hospital for some time and, according to the chief doctor there, suffers from paranoid delusions . When Major Anders from the British secret service tries to interrogate Pohland, he mysteriously disappears. His last word: "death rays". A little later the major received an order from his boss in London to monitor the suspected espionage activities in the small town of Belmare in the south of Malta . On a small island off the coast, a certain Professor Larsen is working on the invention of the so-called death rays.

Disguised as harmless lovers, Anders travels to the small port town, accompanied by his girlfriend Judy, to contact Admiral Quincy's liaison. Tucked away in a coffin, a certain Kaspar travels to Belmare where a funeral the cleverly hidden command center by Dr. Mabuse (or his spirit) is located. No less skilfully disguised, in a pharmacy, Commander Adams awaits the British investigator to familiarize him with further details. In the evening Professor Larsen receives the secret service agents Commander Adams and Major Anders. It was there that they made the acquaintance of Gilda Larsen, the professor's niece, and her friend Mario Monta.

Larsen's invention is based on the principle of a burning mirror based on the Archimedes principle . Larsen is now in possession of a device that can destroy entire cities within seconds. The laboratory also seems to be the target of the mysterious organization around Dr. Mabuse, whose members approach the mysterious island again and again in sardine boats and as frogmen . Mabuse has also found a way to influence Professor Larsen's will through a medium.

During an excursion, Major Anders happened to end up in the palace of the factory owner Jason Monta, Mario's brother. Anders also learns from the liaison officer Admiral Quency that the secret service must come into possession of Professor Larsen's invention. The odd scientist does not want to cooperate with England and the mysterious frogmen are after the death mirror. With the help of various masks, Mabuse actually succeeds in seizing the death rays. Major Anders can render the burning mirror harmless at the last moment and do his job.

History of origin

prehistory

With the 1960 started film series to that of Norbert Jacques invented criminal figure Dr. Mabuse, the film producer Artur Brauner, in addition to the Edgar Wallace series of the competition, brought a successful crime film series into the cinemas. After the successful fifth part of Scotland Yard, Dr. Mabuse Brauner and Gloria Filmverleih planned further Dr. Mabuse crime novels. The productions The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse in 1964 as well as the ultimately unrealized films Das eheimliche Kabinett des Dr. Mabuse and The Revenge of Dr. Mabuse in 1965.

Pre-production and script

In contrast to the previous five films in the Mabuse series, which corresponded to the classic crime genre, Brauner wanted in 1964 with The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse is a contemporary spy film with science fiction elements, completely in the style of the successful film James Bond - 007, Dr. No , create. The screenplay was again written by Ladislas Fodor using the character of Dr. Mabuse. The producer hired the Argentinian Hugo Fregonese as a director .

Peter van Eyck took over for the third time after The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (as Henry B. Travers ) and Scotland Yard are chasing Dr. Mabuse (as Bill Tern ) starred . This time his name was Major Anders , although his role is related to that of Major Bill Tern in the previous Mabuse film. Of the other well-known actors in the film series, only Walter Rilla remained , who, like most of the actors in this film, cannot be heard in his own voice. The actor Wolfgang Preiss named in the opening credits and on the film poster , who played the role of Dr. in all previous films of the CCC film. Mabuse played cannot be seen or heard in this film. Producer Artur Brauner had him named for advertising reasons.

production

The Piazza San Lorenzo in Viterbo in the Italian province of Lazio can be seen as the market square of Belmare .
The main location was the port of Porto Santo Stefano in the south of Tuscany.
La Rocca fortress over the port of Porto Ercole.

The shooting of The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse took place from April 20 to June 22, 1964 in the studios of CCC-Film Berlin-Haselhorst as well as on the southern edge of Tuscany around the port of Porto Santo Stefano and in Viterbo in the Lazio region. The London and Malta recordings, in which there were no actors, are from the archive. The place mentioned in the film Belmare in the south of Malta does not exist. Officially, the film was not produced by CCC Filmproduktion GmbH, but by CCC Filmkunst GmbH, founded in 1960. Production manager was Eberhard Meichsner . The Design came from the film architect Ernst H. Albrecht . Victor De Santis took over the production, direction and camera of the underwater recordings.

The following locations can be seen in the film:

  • Via Panoramica, Porto Ercole : Country road with hearse (opening and closing scene)
  • Piazza San Lorenzo with the Cathedral of San Lorenzo , Viterbo: square in Belmare
  • Port of Porto Santo Stefano: Port of Belmare
  • Villa Marchesa, Porto Santo Stefano: landing stage in front of Villa Larsen
  • Fort La Rocca , Porto Ercole: excursion by Major Anders and Judy
  • Hotel Filippo II, Porto Santo Stefano: Villa Larsen

Film music

The film music was composed by Carlos Diernhammer , the electronic music is by Oskar Sala . Nine pieces of music on the soundtrack - whose titles are purely the publisher's names and have nothing to do with the film in terms of content - appeared in 2000 on the CD Kriminalfilmmusik No. 4 :

  1. Killer Thriller I ( theme music) 1:54
  2. Life forfeits 0:40
  3. Schlendrian 0:31
  4. Incident in the cafe 1:32
  5. Always rain 1:58
  6. Criminal Cha-Cha 1:13
  7. Abduction at night 1:21
  8. Uncertainty 1:46
  9. Killer Thriller II 0:29

As early as 1970, eight tracks from the soundtrack appeared on the long-playing record of a British music publisher - which was only sold to film companies, television and radio companies for sampling and was never released commercially - ( For Modern Industry . Brull Harmonic Mood Music Library. 1970. Order number: CBW 619 ) Of these, the CD crime film music no. 4 of the following not included:

  1. Modern Dramatic Studies, No. 1 1:32
  2. Modern Dramatic Studies, No. 3 0:32
  3. Modern Dramatic Studies, No. 5 1:22
  4. Modern Dramatic Studies, No. 6 1:35
  5. Machinery 3:27

synchronization

The German-French-Italian co-production was shot entirely in English . Only Peter van Eyck and OE Hasse can be heard in the German dubbed version with their own voices. The dialogue director took over Alexander Welbat . Walter Rilla's voice actor is unknown. Other voice actors and their roles were:

role actor Voice actor
Gilda Larsen Yvonne Fourneaux Beate Hasenau
Judy Rika Dialina Ursula Heyer
chief doctor Ernst Schröder Hellmut Grube
Colonel Matson Robert Beatty Heinz Giese
Dr. Krishna Valery Inkijinoff Fritz Tillmann
Kaspar Dieter Eppler Alexander Welbat
Botani Claudio Gora Erich Fiedler
Mario Monta Gustavo Rojo Gerd Martienzen
Jason Monta Massimo Pietrobon Friedrich Schoenfelder
Commander Adams Charly Fawcett Siegfried Schürenberg
Admiral Quency Leo Genn Arnold Marquis
Mercedes Yoko Tani Renate Danz
Lutto Erich K. Kolchak Reinhard Kolldehoff
Dr. Mabuse Voiceover Joachim Nottke

reception

publication

The FSK released the film on August 24, 1964 for those aged 16 and over. After a preview on August 27, director Robert Siodmak gave the film "very good business opportunities". He found The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse "exciting and, as far as this is necessary for the tension, also understandable", criticized however "a few too hard cuts, the voice of the Fourneaux and some music passages." At Siodmak's suggestion, an original final scene on the plane was cut and the film already dimmed when the dog disappears. Others present at the preview, including director Hans Grimm , compared the film to the James Bond film James Bond - 007 Dr. No .

However, the work had nothing to do with the earlier, demonic and eerie Dr. Mabuse films. The bad word of mouth that the film got after its initial success didn't bring the hoped-for business. The sequels planned for 1965 The uncanny cabinet of Dr. Mabuse and The Revenge of Dr. Mabuse were dropped. It was not until 1970 that Artur Brauner decided to kill the criminal Dr. To resurrect Mabuse. The film project The Man Who Called Mabuse , which was only released in 1972 under the title Dr. M strikes came into the cinemas, the German version ultimately only contained allusions to the known criminal.

For the DVD release of The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse in 2005, the age rating was downgraded from 16 to 12 years. The following applies to the entire DVD box set, because of the film it contains, Scotland Yard is chasing after Dr. Mabuse , but still a release from 16 years.

On October 4, 2006, the Italian label No Shame Films released under the title I raggi mortali del Dr. Mabuse an extended version of the film with a length of 105 minutes. The difference in running time to the German version can be explained by some longer and different scenes.

Reviews

"Mindless version of the story of the power-mad criminal, instead of exciting just rude and clumsy."

- Lexicon of international film

literature

  • Solveig Wrage: Dr. Mabuse in the film . Reinhard Weber Verlag, Landshut September 2011, ISBN 978-3-943127-00-3

Audio book

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 91 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 88 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2498 meters
  2. ↑ a b Joachim Kramp: Hello! This is Edgar Wallace speaking. The history of the crime film series from 1959 to 1972. Third, revised and expanded edition . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89602-645-3 , p. 452-454 .
  3. ^ Letter to the Malta Tourist Office dated July 27, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 95 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  4. ↑ Notes on decorations  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  5. ↑ Daily report of May 26, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 168 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  6. ↑ Daily report of May 30, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 260 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  7. ↑ Disposition for June 6, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 113 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  8. ↑ Disposition for June 8, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 151 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  9. ↑ Memorandum from June 9, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 106 kB), CCC film@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  10. ↑ CD crime film music No. 4 . BSC Music. 2000. Order no. 398.6560.2
  11. ↑ Memorandum from August 27, 1964  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 439 kB), Eberhard Meichsner to Artur Brauner .@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.filmportal.de  
  12. ↑ The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
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)