Criterion Collection (series)

Testament of Dr. Mabuse

DVD Features:

• Region 1; USA & Canada
• Keep Case
• Single Side - Dual Layer
• Full Frame - 1.19
• Audio:

 Mono - German

• Additional Release Material:

 Featurette: Comparison Between 1932 German Version, French Version, and THE CRIMES OF DR. MABUSE (Edited and Dubbed American Version)
 Complete French Language Version of the Film, LE TESTAMENT DU DR. MABUSE (Filmed Simultaneously By Lang With French Actors)
 Audio Commentary: David Kalat - Author of THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. MABUSE
 Interviews: Michael Farin - German Mabuse Expert
 Shorts:
     1. MABUSE IN MIND (1984 Film by Thomas Honickel Featuring an Interview With Actor Rudolf Schundler)
     2. Excerpts From FOR EXAMPLE FRITZ LANG (1964 Interview With Lang)

• Text/Photo Galleries:

 Essay: by Fritz Lang Expert Tom Gunning
 Collection of Memorabilia, Press Books, Stills, and Posters
 Rare Production Design Drawings by Art Director Emil Hasler

Product Description:

The tenuous and terrified atmosphere of Germany on the eve of Nazi ascendancy is cleverly evoked in Fritz Lang's THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE. The film opens with former police officer Hofmeister frantically warning police inspector Lohman of a mysterious gang's activity. He is especially insistant about the gang's leader, but is stopped in mid-confession before he can reveal the leader's identity. Dr. Baum runs the insane asylum where former arch criminal Dr. Mabuse is kept after going insane from his attempts to elude the police. After being incarcerated, Mabuse began writing reams of gibberish prose that gave complex instructions for how to commit crime sprees. When a fellow doctor confronts Dr. Baum with evidence that these exact crimes are coming true, he is mysteriously assassinated. Kent is an unwilling member of the gang and after taking their newest orders from a disembodied voice, he decides to leave the gang. Lohman continues to search for the identity of the gang's leader, as the crime sprees continue, and Mabuse's ghost begins to haunt Dr. Baum. As all of the characters speed chaotically towards the film's dark climax, the idea of a madman controlling a mass of hypnotized people and causing them to commit crimes that he premeditates creates a mystical and simultaneously potent political allegory of Lang's time.

Plot Keywords:

Essential Cinema | Mad Doctor | Recommended | Vengeance | Vintage

Production Notes:

• Released in Vienna on December 5th, 1933
• Filmed at the Nero-Film A.G. Studios in Berlin in 10 weeks.
• THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE was Lang's last film before he left Germany for Hollywood.
• THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE was banned by the Nazis and had to have its premiere in Vienna.

Cast and Crew:

Starring		Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Directed by		Fritz Lang
Featured		Gustav Diesl & Karl Meixner
Performer		Otto Wernicke