Rent The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)

Indispensable Lang - The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse review by LE

I wasn't expecting much from this. A nearly blind Fritz Lang going over old ground for his last film. But rather than being another embarrassing rehash, it is in fact a glorious career retrospective. Lang refers visually, thematically and through characterisation to lots of films in his vast back catalogue. And he appears to be enjoying himself throughout. It's the best of all his Mabuse films as it doesn't overstay its welcome and his message doesn't get lost in the confusion. That said, by the end, the plot is barely comprehensible, and the lead male is ridiculously bland(maybe on purpose?) but there is so much to love about it. If you're a fan of his other Mabuse films, 'M', and his Hollywood noirs you will spot lots of references to them. There's also an ok commentary on this disc which reveals a lot of historical context though often unfortunately at the expense of ignoring much of what happening on-screen. Pro-tip: according to that commentary the version that Lang wanted English-speaking audiences to watch is actually the dubbed version, not the subtitled one. Both versions are on this disc and, indeed the dubbed version is the superior one, and even makes the plot feel slightly less insane. Start with that.

Mabuse Reboot (spoiler). - The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse review by Steve

Scaled back revival by Fritz Lang of his Mabuse crime thrillers from the 1920s-30s. Critics claim the earlier series anticipates the rise of Adolf Hitler; the Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) actually quotes from Nazi speeches. So it's easy to assume the theme of surveillance in this 1960 reboot references the Stasi of postwar East German Communism.

Though this is set in the West... The police are horrified when someone seems to be adopting the methods of the criminal Übermensch years after his apparent death... Is Dr. Mabuse somehow still alive... or at least his malign plans survive through the incoherent notes he scrawled in the asylum?

Lang is back in Germany for his last picture. It's a low budget production less representative of those earlier expressionist dreamworks than the sadly underwhelming series which this launched. Though this is easily the best of those. And there are a few echoes of the Weimar films for the fans.

It anticipates motifs of the James Bond franchise- with Dawn Adams a sexy double agent and Wolfgang Preiss a cartoonish villain, with a hi-tec underground HQ. We even get Gert Fröbe! But it lacks suspense and while there are effective episodes, the story is predictable. It disappoints both as Mabuse comeback, and the final release of a legend.