Fifty Years of Film in 50 weeks, #13: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, 1933

Mabuse: "I AM the state!"
A crazed genius implements a plan to terrorize Berlin as a step toward dominating the world. Where have I heard this before?

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, 1933

Director: Fritz Lang
Writers: Norbert Jacques, Fritz Lang, and Thea von Harbou
Cinematographers: Károly Vass and Fritz Arno Wagner
Produced by: Fritz Lang and Seymour Nebenzal for Nero-Film AG.
Starring: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi Sr., Gustav Diessl, Otto Wernicke, Karl Meixner

Why I chose it
This classic popped up on my list because of famed director Fritz Lang, and because I had vaguely heard about the 'series' of Mabuse films, I added it to my Twitter poll and it won by a mile. I was also impressed to see it owns an 8.0 rating on IMDb - very high as IMDb ratings go.

'No-spoiler' plot overview
In a large German city, Police Inspector Lohmann gets an urgent phone call from a disgraced colleague (Hofmeister) revealing new details about a criminal gang who have gotten away with a series of robberies and a counterfeiting business. Unfortunately, just when the highly agitated Hofmeister's about to reveal the name of the gang's mastermind, a couple of gang members who have been tailing him burst into the room and Hofmeister immediately goes mad. Due to his detective work, Lohmann receives evidence that somehow the famous Doctor-turned-catatonic-mental-patient, Mabuse, is directing these criminal efforts by projecting his will through pages of scribblings and possibly via the supernatural projection of his mind even after his death. In the meantime, one of the gang members, Tom Kent, wants to go straight for the love of Lilli, who has no idea her handsome young man is a crook. A series of suspenseful complications drive this expressionistic tale to its conclusion.

Production Background 
Lang, who had had great success with his first sound film, M (1931), made this as a sequel to his silent epic Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922), based on the Norbert Jacques novel. The only problem was that it was now 1933, the year Hitler and the Nazis, with their campaign of street violence and political subterfuge, took over the German government and the nation. The Nazi minister of propaganda, Goebbels, banned the film after Lang apparently turned down his offer to be the 'head of film' in Germany: read 'propaganda film'. Lang also suspected Goebbels didn't like some of the speeches made by 'Mabuse' that waxed poetic about the value of crime and world domination, or the negative way the film portrayed a crime-ridden and fearful German society. Luckily for Lang, he got out of Germany and had a solid career in Hollywood, including the anti-Nazi film Man Hunt (1941). He left behind his wife whom he was divorcing, screenwriter Thea von Harbou, ironically the former wife of the film's star, Klein-Rogge. 

Some other notable film-related events in 1933*:

• Silent film actor and comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, after being scandalized following a wild party in a San Francisco hotel in 1921 and falsely accused of rape and manslaughter, suffered a ruined career, ostracism, and the banning of his films, and retreated into alcoholism. Although ultimately vindicated after three trials and having enjoyed a brief comeback as a film director, he died penniless of a heart attack at the age of 46.
• Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although minor players, made their debut and danced in their first joint movie together, RKO's Flying Down to Rio. 
• The backstage drama/musical 42nd Street (1933), choreographed by Busby Berkeley, revitalized the over-exposed musical and saved Warners from bankruptcy. The film established Berkeley as the most talented choreographer of musical production numbers.
• One of the first feature-length musical scores written specifically for a US 'talkie' film was Max Steiner's score for RKO's King Kong (1933). It was the first major Hollywood film to have a thematic score rather than background music, recorded using a 46-piece orchestra.

*Thanks to Filmsite.org

My Random Observations

• This film is a treasure trove for any film lover. It demands, and rewards, multiple viewings. As others have noted, the film defies genre characterization, with elements of surrealism, expressionism, horror, police procedural, and noir. Every time I see a German film from Lang for the first time, I say the same thing: this is my favorite Lang movie. This happened for M, Metropolis, and Spione. Yet I feel this film may hold that favorite spot for longer than the others. 
• For me the film's best element is its script - there are multiple threads, characters, and story arcs that start far apart and over the course of the film spiral with centrifugal force to a thrilling, yet disturbing conclusion - are we back where we started? Also, all characters are compellingly and realistically drawn, surrealistic exaggerations aside. Think of Inspector Lohmann's opera fascination and cigar-chomping habits, or Tom's emotional breakdown in the unemployment line.
• Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) is the real star here, despite leading-man type Diessl and titular character Mabuse (Klein-Rogge). The character of Inspector Lohmann was a holdover from Lang's M, made two years earlier. He was played there also by Otto Wernicke. Here he is in M:
  
  
  
  
• How about that sound design? It's masterful, especially considering how early in the sound era this film was produced. There were stretches of dissonant music, silence, or effects like the deafening rhythmic thumping of heavy machinery in action that serve to keep audiences feeling disoriented.
• I haven't seen the first Dr. Mabuse film, but Klein-Rogge looked familiar. I discovered why - he played the crazed scientist in Lang's silent sci-fi classic Metropolis (seen in the image below - with the wild hair and arms in the air).
  

• Ever since I watched the film, I've been thinking about how to interpret the supernatural elements. I suspect there is no definitive view, but to me, considering the number of characters that suffer nervous breakdowns or complete insanity, I feel that 'insanity' drives the film; the supernatural elements exist to give us insight into the diseased mind. Insanity, also, Lang seems to be saying, is a driver of, and a response to, crime and societal disarray.

Screenshots

Three shadowy figures block an escape route for Hofmeister
early in the film.

Inspector Lohmann (Wernicke) is a cigar-smoking jolly fellow,
looking to leave work on time for once although his assistant
Mueller (Klaus Pohl) looks skeptical.

Hofmeister making a desperate phone call.

Light and dark shot of a large lecture hall as students listen to 
Prof. Baum speak on the curious case of Dr. Mabuse.

Prof. Baum looks a bit agitated - what's happening with this left eye?

Tom Kent (Gustav Diessl, center) a bit nervous that the 
gang he joined is discussing murder.

Lohmann with his back to a window attempting to 
reproduce left-handed scrawling mysterious letters into the glass.

Prof. Baum (Berengi, Sr.) sees a ghostly projection of Mabuse 
(Klein-Rogge).

More ghostly projections. This shot also features canted
angles to help represent the perspective of a deranged mind.

Two formidable men, Lohmann and Baum, face off at the
morgue where Mabuse is finally neutralized (or is he?)

Ghost of Mabuse spouting a dangerous philosophy.

Lilli tries to convince Tom she loves him no matter what.

One of the gang is quite the dandy and epicure.

Trapped by the nefarious gang, Tom and Lilli wonder if 
they will escape before rising waters reach their heads.

Lohmann and Tom speed in pursuit of an escaping 
criminal, with menacing trees illuminated behind them.

Where to Watch
It's now available to subscribers of HBO-Max and the Criterion Channel, and the Criterion version is currently available free on YouTube here.

Further Reading
Read my review of the fanciful 2016 biopic Fritz Lang.
The Turner Classic Movies article here provides insight into the genres blurring in the film and current and contemporaneous critiques.
This Criterion essay discusses the connection between Lang's film and the Nazis and also the intriguing use of sound.

The inspiration for 'M' as told in Gordian Maugg's 2016 Fritz Lang

Today the Coolidge Corner Theatre screened the 2016 film Fritz Lang as part of their partnership with the Goethe-Institut Boston.  The film series focuses on new German cinema, with emphasis on works early in the careers of their directors.  I've enjoyed films in this series before, and was excited to see a film on the subject of the great Austrian director who made landmark films in Germany in the early years of cinema, and after his emigration to the U.S., found work in Hollywood, gave us noir classics such as The Big Heat and Scarlet Street.

Written and directed by Gordian Maugg, the film is a mixed bag.  I'll admit to enjoying it overall, for its gorgeous black and white cinematography, gauzy evocations of Weimar Germany, an extremely flawed but fascinating central character, strong performances, and references to and clips from the film M, Lang's first talkie.  For it is this film, that served as the inspiration for Herr Maugg, to create what appears to be a mostly fictionalized imagining of this particular segment of Lang's professional and personal journey.

Heino Ferch as Fritz Lang

The film starts with a middle-aged man seducing a young woman in a secluded park, and then stabbing her to death in the neck with a pair of scissors and then drinking her blood. Rapidly switching away from this brutal scene, we meet Herr Lang, who is between projects and seems to be unhappy with his career, and his wife, writer Thea von Harbou.  After reading a newspaper article about the search for a serial killer, he goes off to Düsseldorf to indulge his fascination with the case.   The head of the investigation just happens to be the police commissioner, Gennat, who investigated Lang 10 years earlier for the death of his first wife, Lisa.  It's never made clear in the film if he shot her, or she committed suicide after discovering her husband in the arms of his lover (later to become Frau Lang).  [According to the notes at the end of the film, what really happened to Lisa never came to light.]  Once the serial killer, Peter Kürten, is found--it's a real case, read about it here--Lang is granted interview privileges, and when drawing out Kürten, begins to relive his own scarred past (childhood family trauma, PTSD from WWI, etc.).  The parallels between the two men are underscored, but they ultimately chose different outlets to channel their repressed anger and anguish.  Ultimately, Lang produces his masterpiece, M, from all these experiences. 

Peter Lorre in M

Apparently, most of the film's plot is speculation.  Lang never revealed much about his early life, and denied even that M was based on the Kürten case.  I'm not sure what Maugg's intentions were.  A primary theme of M, that of questioning vigilante justice, is not dealt with in the modern film. I did take away from screening that we were to believe Lang himself empathized with Kürten, as he ultimately did in Peter Lorre's character of the child-killer in M.  As the 'older' Lang, Heino Ferch was terrific.  He created a portrait of a self-important artist, a national celebrity, who demanded and got what he wanted.  He snorted cocaine and was prone to risky sex and destructive rages.  Certainly, this was not what I had imagined Lang to be like, and the film obviously did not intend for the audience to sympathize with him.  That is, at least until near the end where he begins to become more human, facing his own demons through his interactions with Kürten.  Another way this film parallels M.

Cross-fade of Peter Lorre in M and Samuel Finzi as Peter Kürten

The structure of the film is non-linear, with surrealistic imaginings and flashbacks in time.  Inserted throughout are what appears to be newsreel footage of life in early 20th century Germany, and clips from M.  A short article I read on Maugg mentioned his specialty as a director is mixing archival footage with fictional scenes.  The black-and-white cinematography evoked Lang's own films.  The primary questions I had when I left the theater were:  Was Fritz Lang really this bombastic, chauvinistic, and unpleasant?  If so, why?  What really did happen to his first wife?  All in all, a dark exploration of the early days of cinema that was at least an entertaining couple of hours at the cinema, if not providing any trustworthy insights into the enigma of Lang's early life.  

Fritz Lang (from mubi.com)

July Classic Film Screenings in Greater Boston

Another month and another feast of offerings for the classic film fan in Greater Boston.  Two very special silent film screening events are coming up, and some fun flicks to enhance your summer's entertainment quotient.  Check them out and support your local cinemas!

Coolidge Corner Cinema

July 6 & 7:  Silent film fans should consider coming out to see the Fritz Lang sci-fi classic METROPOLIS (1927) with live musical accompaniment from our own Cambridge-based Alloy Orchestra.  In what is a first in the 'The Sounds of Silents' program, there will be two screenings on back-to-back days Weds & Thurs July 6 & 7 at 7:00.  The Alloy Orchestra was launched at the Coolidge in 1991 with this same film, so these screenings represent a special 25th anniversary celebration for the group.  The film is the newest "complete" version of the film, which premiered in 2010.  The Alloy Orchestra has a unique percussive and electronic sound to their specially-composed scores.  For those new to the film, it's a visual feast - the first full length sci-film ever made.

A video clip of the Alloy Orchestra rehearsing their METROPOLIS score can be seen here:

July 18, 7 PM:  THE HUSTLER (1961) is next up in the Big Screen Classics series.  I've never seen this Robert Rossen film starring Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott, but all indications are that it's a tremendously-written and compelling drama.  All the stars were nominated for Oscars in the main categories, as was director Rossen and the film for Best Picture.  The only Oscars it DID win were in the cinematography and art direction, which tells me it does need to be seen on the big screen!




Somerville Theater
July 10, 2 PM. The Somerville has a special silent film screening event of its own in July as part of the 'Silents Please' series -- a double feature of W.C. Fields' rarely screened silent comedies in 35 mm:  SO'S YOUR OLD MAN (1926), directed by Gregory La Cava, and IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME (1926, also with silent screen goddess Louise Brooks).  A special guest will be Dr. Harriet Fields, granddaughter of the actor. (!) I've not seen much W.C. Fields, and none of his silents, and this represents a terrific opportunity.  Both films are shown in 35mm with live piano accompaniment by Somerville regular Jeff Rapsis.

July 28 7:30 PM:  The Somerville will need seatbelts for patrons on this day as Steve McQueen rides in in BULLITT (1968), THE GETAWAY (1972).  Both are 35 mm prints from Warner Archive.  For those who haven't experienced the phenomenon that was McQueen in the second half of the 20th century, this is a way to correct that.

Brattle Theatre
July 4:, 12:00 PM & 8:00 PM  On the holiday, The Brattle will screen the summer classic JAWS (1975), one of the first in the emerging blockbuster category of films and director Steven Spielberg's first huge hit.  It will also screen at the Somerville in August.  I wonder if our proximity to the ocean here makes this such a popular one year after year?  Regardless, if you've never seen it on the big screen you shouldn't miss it.

Jane Greer & Kirk Douglas in OUT OF THE PAST

MORE NOIR!!  The theatre just announced that the 75 Years of Film Noir festival continues with another installment with a focus on the 'femme fatale'.   Here is the list of femmes fatale along with the film and the screening date:

July 11 & 12 Jean Simmons ANGEL FACE (1952).  Also with Herbert Marshall, a fave.
Jane Greer OUT OF THE PAST (1946) Also with Robert Mitchum & Kirk Douglas. This one is spectacular.

July 18 & 19
Yvonne de Carlo CRISS CROSS (1949) Also with Burt Lancaster.
Ava Gardner THE KILLERS (1946) Also with Edmond O'Brien and Burt Lancaster.

July 26
Joan Bennett THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1945) Also with Edward G. Robinson
Joan Bennett THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH (1947). Also with Robert Ryan.

Harvard Film Archive
The programming at the HFA is always exciting.  In July, the complete Robert Aldrich retrospective (...All the Marbles) continues.  What's particularly cool about the program is that it features films that are not only directed by Aldrich, but those in which he served as an assistant or in another capacity.  In addition the HFA has included episodes of the TV series 'Four Star Playhouse' that Aldrich directed, which included several major stars.   In total, the list is too long to completely reproduce here, but check the link above for the full list.  I'm particularly excited about seeing:

July 9, 7:00 PM:  AUTUMN LEAVES (1957), in 35 mm, starring Joan Crawford, Vera Miles, and Lorne Greene.  It's a "late Hollywood melodrama, lurid, strange and overheated," and said to be Aldrich's first foray into the 'women's picture', which would culminate with WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?" Whew!

July 31 4:30 PM:  THE SOUTHERNER (1945), in 35 mm. This one was directed by the great French director Jean Renoir, but Aldrich served as assistant director.  It's starring Zachary Scott and Betty Field, and is totally new to me.  There is a chance I'll be at Woods Hole for their annual Film Festival, but if not, I will be here!