Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse (1960) YTS

Reviewed by Taylor L 6 / 10

Feels oddly reminiscent of a modern Christopher Nolan

Feels oddly reminiscent of a modern Christopher Nolan thriller with its many crossed wires, sometimes substituting complexity for a good story. Fritz Lang's final outing as a director brought him back to Germany and to the character that made him famous, the malevolent, mysterious Dr. Mabuse. Lang's earlier, more experimental Mabuse films (including the four-and-a-half-hour silent epic Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler) were pioneering works that helped to establish some of the style that would evolve into the noir, using a central character that was uniquely chaotic and diabolical for the period, to the point where some later critics thought that he might be Lang's analogy for the power brokers that ruthlessly cut up Germany in the confusion of the Weimar Republic, including the Nazis. In contrast, 1,000 Eyes seems to show more of Lang's commercial side that he picked up in his decades in Hollywood; the story is a competent but far less atmospheric thriller that shows Mabuse almost like a B-movie monster or one of James Bond's lesser Spectre antagonists (the focus on gadgets and espionage certainly encourage the latter comparison). A bit too complex for its own good, but plenty entertaining, especially if you're a fan of hidden doors.

Reviewed by R T 4 / 10

Fritz Lang would make three films featuring the Dr

Fritz Lang would make three films featuring the Dr. Mabuse character. The second one, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), filmed in Germany, is a brilliant and prophetic work in which the parallels between Dr. Mabuse and Adolf Hitler are quite obvious. Hitler liked Lang's films and according to Lang, Joseph Goebbels, who banned The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, nevertheless offered him a position as the head of German film studio UFA. Lang, part Jewish, left Germany that very evening. In America Lang was successful as a filmmaker though he wasn't well liked by actors, particularly Henry Fonda, who resented his autocratic behavior. By 1960, Lang, then 70, was unable to find work in Hollywood and agreed to travel to Germany to remake The Indian Tomb, a film he had developed in the 20's but didn't get a chance to direct. When that was finished, producer Artur Brauner suggested a remake of Testament of Dr. Mabuse but Lang persuaded him to let him make a new installment of the series. There was to be a production with English actors as well but financial support was withdrawn when Lang refused to agree to working with a co-director. Thus we only have the German version which unfortunately was dubbed for US and UK release. I might have enjoyed this film a little more if it had been in German with English subtitles but it still suffers from an incoherent plot and dialogue that sounds as though it was written by high school students. The last fifteen minutes manages to be somewhat exciting though full of improbabilities but the final scene is as sappy as they come. Yet the film was successful and led to a series of new Mabuse films though none were directed by Lang who was by then nearly blind. He died in Los Angeles in 1976.

Reviewed by R T 8 / 10

Fritz Lang's penultimate film is not one of

Fritz Lang's penultimate film is not one of his classics, but it sure is a lot of fun.

Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse

1960 [GERMAN]

Crime / Mystery / Thriller

Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse

1960 [GERMAN]

Crime / Mystery / Thriller

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Movie Reviews

Feels oddly reminiscent of a modern Christopher Nolan

Fritz Lang would make three films featuring the Dr

Fritz Lang's penultimate film is not one of

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