The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
(Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 103m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters
Synopsis:
The apparent suicide attempt of an abused wife at a luxury hotel, the machinations of a blind medium named Cornelius, and attempts on the life of the Inspector of Police point to one and the same man, who has taken up the legacy of Dr. Mabuse. With his surveillance equipment he manipulates and blackmails the denizens of the hotel from its basement, and has eyes on a larger prize, the nuclear interests of a millionaire American staying there.
Review:
Rather convolutedly plotted and uneven technically, Lang's swansong nevertheless has enjoyable turns from Fröbe and Peters, while Preiss's magnificent voice is denied us in all but one of his guises. Addams's character is supposedly hypnotised, and indeed she seems so for most of the movie, and van Eyck was always somewhat wooden. We end with a good chase, followed by an ambiguous hospital bedside clinch (the French release has her pass away), and the film is an apt return to Lang's favoured theme of humanity's struggle against pure evil.
(Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 103m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters
Synopsis:
The apparent suicide attempt of an abused wife at a luxury hotel, the machinations of a blind medium named Cornelius, and attempts on the life of the Inspector of Police point to one and the same man, who has taken up the legacy of Dr. Mabuse. With his surveillance equipment he manipulates and blackmails the denizens of the hotel from its basement, and has eyes on a larger prize, the nuclear interests of a millionaire American staying there.
Review:
Rather convolutedly plotted and uneven technically, Lang's swansong nevertheless has enjoyable turns from Fröbe and Peters, while Preiss's magnificent voice is denied us in all but one of his guises. Addams's character is supposedly hypnotised, and indeed she seems so for most of the movie, and van Eyck was always somewhat wooden. We end with a good chase, followed by an ambiguous hospital bedside clinch (the French release has her pass away), and the film is an apt return to Lang's favoured theme of humanity's struggle against pure evil.
(Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 103m
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters
Synopsis:
The apparent suicide attempt of an abused wife at a luxury hotel, the machinations of a blind medium named Cornelius, and attempts on the life of the Inspector of Police point to one and the same man, who has taken up the legacy of Dr. Mabuse. With his surveillance equipment he manipulates and blackmails the denizens of the hotel from its basement, and has eyes on a larger prize, the nuclear interests of a millionaire American staying there.
Review:
Rather convolutedly plotted and uneven technically, Lang's swansong nevertheless has enjoyable turns from Fröbe and Peters, while Preiss's magnificent voice is denied us in all but one of his guises. Addams's character is supposedly hypnotised, and indeed she seems so for most of the movie, and van Eyck was always somewhat wooden. We end with a good chase, followed by an ambiguous hospital bedside clinch (the French release has her pass away), and the film is an apt return to Lang's favoured theme of humanity's struggle against pure evil.