Monday | March 4, 2002 7:00 pm

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
(Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse)

Screening on Film

Directed by Fritz Lang.
With Otto Wernicke, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Theodor Loos.
Germany , 1932, 35mm, black & white, 122 min.
German with English subtitles.

Lang’s second sound film, and the second installment of his Mabuse tale, finds the evil doctor (Klein-Rogge) incarcerated in a mental institution and plotting to destroy the public order. Lang masterfully presents a disembodied mise-en-scène of the criminal genius, as the recorded voice of the madman gives orders to a mass of compliant minions. The acts of violence cannot be traced to a single perpetrator, and Inspector Lohmann (Wernicke, continuing the role he initiated in M) once again has a difficult time tracking down the source of chaos and terror. The world premiere of this riveting policier took place in Budapest on April 23,1933, after being banned in Germany by Nazi censors who claimed it endangered the well-being of the Reich.