The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961)

So much average

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

"Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse" or "The Return of Dr. Mabuse" is a German movie from 55 years ago that continues the story of the famous Dr. Mabuse that was already a crowd pleaser several decades earlier during the silent film era. It mixes once again the usual formula of making a movie about a criminal mastermind and include some film-noir and horror references. Plus there is of course always a beautiful female. The film is like all/most of the others in black-and-white. Unfortunately, the story is usually underwhelming. looking at how Sean Connery's James Bond was born at the same time in the United States, it becomes painfully obvious how inferior German cinema was around that time. The crimes as a whole are fairly uninteresting and the writing is not really inspired. The only thing that kept this from being a total disappointment for me is probably the fact that Gert Fröbe was on board and I am quite a fan. The title is pretty nice too, but nothing in the film lives up to it. Also you can occasionally see references to all the German Edgar Wallace crime films, so if you like these, then you may even enjoy this Mabuse movie. I don't like them either. My favorite scene in here was maybe when the guy sits in the shadows and the cop shoots him before we find out he was just a puppet on Mabuse's strings. But there weren't many more good scenes like this. Certainly not enough, even for a film that is fairly short at 85 minutes. I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs down.

I had heard that Gert Frobe was a pretty good actor. Most of us remember him in "Goldfinger," of course. He plays a multi-dimensional police detective who must pursue the wily Dr. Mabuse (whoever he might be). Working with a man imprisoned for his experimentation, a series of alleyways and twists and turns, leading to prisons, narrow escapes, and death, Frobe stays on the path, even though he doesn't seem to be respected by his adversary. The scientists daughter becomes a pawn in the game and complicates things. The pacing is pretty good and there are some surprises. And, as we know, super villains aren't all that easy to kill. Still, I liked the low key performance of Frobe and the way he is never intimidated by his discoveries.

This was another good entry in the Dr. Mabuse series, and a good German mystery movie in general. Gert Frobe is excellent as Lohmann, and Lex Barker is a welcome addition with his character, who keeps us on our toes by never really letting us know his true allegiances until late in the film. Once again though, a lot of traps and salient plot points are recycled from some of the previous Mabuse movies. The addition of the "Chicago Syndicate" element looks to have been added to make the movie more reachable to US audiences, but the film does manage to keep the unique verve that most German cinema had back in the fifties and sixties.

One of the better Mabuse-films of post-war West-Germany. Of course, none of these films came even close to the famous Mabuse original from the 20-ies. Dr. Mabuse is a mad scientist who uses his power to control and manipulate other minds. He is difficult to track and has the unpleasant feature of killing someone or lancing a coup in the most unexpected places and times. Usually, he uses devices as electronic mind-manipulators or hypnosis and has a gang of criminals at his disposal who carry out his orders and usually don't even know that their leader is the feared Mabuse. In the Dr.-Mabuse-sequels he was killed or hunted down several times but only to escape with mad genius and to appear another time. What makes this film interesting is the style and the scenic decoration with which the dark emotion and the mysteriousness are displayed that Dr. Mabuse implies. Supporting the mysterious atmosphere is that the film is made in black-and-white and the use of light has more effect on the atmosphere, although it is sometimes to theatralic. Some creepy details are remarkable for example masks or busts standing in a psychiatrist's office that contribute to the morbide background. Mabuse should be perceived like an unstoppable ghost - a task that has been very well accomplished. It has some kind of psycho-atmosphere - you can trust no one (maybe Mabuse has just manipulated your girlfriend's mind or a bling beggar is killing you on the street). The actors of this film are fairly unimpressive especially the unbearable Lex Barker who doesn't fit in this movie at all. The sole exception is the grummy Gert Froebe who plays the commissar once again and (for native-germans) can work with his saxonian dialect as well as putting his large body in police-like behaviour that is fun for anyone to watch as he is the only serious actor in this movie. Measured with international standards this film is a mediocre and unimpressive work and certainly not remarkable. But for german cinema it has a traditional connection with the Edgar-Wallace-movies that appeared at the same time. The Doktor-Mabuse-films use the same methods to create mystery, crime and psychological fear. Almost all of them are made in black-and-white and share the same pool of german actors that emerged in the 50-ies and 60-ies. This film is more interesting for someone who likes these pseudo-thrillers (as me) as for someone who wants to watch a serious movie. This film distinguishes itself as it is one of the more serious of the Mabuse-series with the plot being more conclusive and the solution of the case being more believable. And Gert Froebe's acting is noteworthy as it enriches this more or less pale movie.