Dr. M strikes
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Dr. M strikes |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany , Spain |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1972 |
| length | 79 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jess Frank |
| script | Jess Frank Art Bernd |
| production |
Telecine Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH ( Artur Brauner ) Copercines Cooperativa Cinematográfica (Ignacio Gutiérrez-Solana) Fénix Films (Arturo Marcos) |
| music |
Rolf Kühn Martin Böttcher Bert Kaempfert Gert Wilden Rolf Alexander Wilhelm Roland Kovac |
| camera | Manuel Merino |
| cut | Renate Engelmann |
| occupation | |
| |
Dr. M strikes is a German-Spanish fiction film directed by Jess Franco in Spain in 1970 . The title of the film was supposed to tie in with the successful Dr. Mabuse film series, which was made between 1960 and 1964. Also available from Artur Brauner co-produced film Dr. M strikes zu was premiered on December 26, 1972 in the Capitol in West Berlin , but ultimately found no film distribution in Germany . In the 1990s there was a legal dispute over this film between Brauner and the heirs of Norbert Jacques , the inventor of the character of Dr. Mabuse. In 2001 the film was broadcast in a restored version by ZDF .
action
A criminal organization hires Dr. Krenko, stealing secret plans for a super weapon from the McDowall Institute for Laser Research. To this end, he hypnotizes a kidnapped employee of the institute and learns that the plans will soon be transported out of the institute. Dr. Krenko has the transport ambushed, but finds out that the plans are encrypted. Dr. Remove Orloff, who is running the secret project, as bait.
To prevent this, Dr. Krenko's Monster Andros Dr. Orloff and kidnaps his niece Wanda. Now the code is about to be stolen, but an attack on the institute ends in a bloodbath. Before Dr. Krenko is able to hypnotize Wanda at the end, he is murdered by Andros, like his helpers Hermann and Leslie before.
History of origin
prehistory
In 1953, the film producer acquired Artur Brauner by the writer Norbert Jacques rights to use the known criminal figure Dr. Mabuse. Because the chances of success for fictional crime substances were assessed as low by the film distributors in the 1950s, Brauner's CCC film was initially occupied with the production of films from other genres. This situation changed after the 1959 Rialto Film produced Edgar Wallace film The frog with the mask had to be a great success with the public proved.
In 1960 Brauner started with The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse finally a Mabuse film series, which also developed into a successful crime series and comprised a total of six parts by 1964. After the last film The Death Rays of Dr. Mabuse had proven to be an artistic and financial failure, the projects that had already been planned, Das eheimliche Kabinett des Dr. Mabuse and The Revenge of Dr. Mabuse no longer realized. In 1970 Brauner was able to successfully revive the Bryan Edgar Wallace film series, which was also discontinued in 1964, with Giallo The Secret of Black Gloves, which he co-produced . In the same year he decided to also use the character Dr. To resurrect Mabuse.
Pre-production and script
Artur Brauner wrote a screenplay under his pseudonym Art Bernd called The Man Who Called Mabuse , which was based on motifs from previously unfilmed scripts from the 1960s. The film was the first collaboration between Artur Brauner and the Spanish trash film director Jess Franco , who created cheap entertainment films under various pseudonyms. Franco revised the script, creating a kind of remake of his 1962 film Gritos en la noche . This was titled The Terrible Dr. Orloff in cinemas in Switzerland and shows strong similarities in content to Edgar Wallace's novel The Dark Eyes of London and its first film adaptation of the same name (German title: Der Würger von London ) from 1939. In Dr. M strikes becomes the figure of Dr. Mabuse ultimately not mentioned. Only in the German title and especially in the Spanish loan title La Venganza del doctor Mabuse (Spanish for Die Rache des Dr. Mabuse ) was the name of the well-known criminal retained for advertising reasons.
production
The shooting took place from April to June 1970 in Spain . The production design came from the film architect Hans-Jürgen Kiebach . Production manager was Karl Heinz Mannchen . The director Jess Franco can be seen in the film in the role of Crosby himself as an actor.
Film music
The film music of the jazz musician Rolf Kühn was composed, in addition to recordings of his MPS- LP Devils In Paradise, from titles also used in the films Perrak and The Yellow House on Pinnasberg . The film also features melodies from the music composed by Martin Böttcher for the film Das Phantom von Soho (1964) as well as music by Bert Kaempfert , Gert Wilden , Rolf Alexander Wilhelm and Roland Kovac . Nevertheless, only Rolf Kühn is mentioned as the composer in the opening credits.
synchronization
The dialogue direction of the German dubbed version was done by Arne Elsholtz . The voice actors and their roles were:
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Krenko | Jack Taylor | Michael Chevalier |
| Inspector Thomas | Fred Williams | Manfred Bottlenose Dolphin |
| Jenny Herring | Ewa Strömberg | Almut Eggert |
| Assistant Hermann | Friedrich Joloff | Gerd Martienzen |
| Melou | Gustavo Re | Arnold Marquis |
| Professor Parkinson | Ángel Menéndez | Heinz Petruo |
| Leslie | Beni Cardoso | Beate Hasenau |
| Crosby | Jess Franco | Friedrich W. Building School |
| John Paganini | Andrés Monales | Arne Elsholtz |
| FBI agent Marx | Manuel Merino | Martin Hirthe |
reception
publication
The FSK released the film on December 21, 1972 from the age of 16. The premiere took place on December 26, 1972 in the Capitol in Berlin . Since the film was denied any chances of winning, there was no film distribution, so that Brauner's CCC film did not sell the film very successfully itself. The nationwide first release of the film therefore took place on television decades later, when the VOX broadcaster showed the film on July 14, 1998. The ZDF broadcast the film on January 7, 2001 (announced there as an “entertaining horror comedy”) in a restored version. In the Spanish version performed on April 2, 1974, some of the film scenes are in a different order.
In the 1990s, the film went through a lengthy court case. In the trial that Brauner won, it was argued, among other things, whether it was actually a Dr. Mabuse film, whether Brauner could prove a breach of contract and whether an attempt should be made to circumvent the payment due to the heirs of Norbert Jacques .
In 2014 the film was released on DVD by Pidax.
Reviews
"Federal German mixture of Frankenstein and James Bond elements."
Web links
- Dr. M strikes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dr. M strikes at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ German FSK version: 79 minutes for cinema projection (24 images / second), 76 minutes for television playback (25 images / second), film length: 2175 meters; In Spain there are two versions with a length of 72 and 64 minutes (25 frames / second). According to some sources, the original length is said to be 88 minutes.
- ↑ 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 .
- ↑ Shooting according to the entry ( 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. at filmportal.de
- ↑ Entry in the kabel eins film archive
- ↑ Film music by Martin Böttcher - filmography: cinema films
- ↑ Hans Schmid: Winnetou and the chief of the Komantschen: Atze Brauner chases Karl May In: Heise online . August 23, 2008
- ↑ Dr. M strikes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
