Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A very young Klaus Kinski which is silent almost all his screening time, he has just a few lines so, he can't show his talent too much. But, even his silence is great! Peter van Eyck is a very talented and full of charm actor but, in this one, almost half of the film, he's talking with his mother... The script is bad and boring. Watch it if you're crazy about Mabuse... or film in general!

"Scotland Yard jagt Dr. Mabuse" or "Scotland Yard in Pursuit of Dr. Mabuse" is a West German movie from the years 1963 and there are actually a handful more German and English titles for this one. The original language in the film is German and even if there are German films from the decades before that have color, this is still a black-and-white film. Like most of the other Mabuse films from the 1960s, this one runs for 90 minutes. The director is Paul May and two writers adapted the story by Bryan Edgar Wallace, son of the famous Edgar Wallace. The main character is not played by Gert Froebe this time, but by Peter van Eyck, who also should not be unknown to Mabuse film lovers. And there are more familiar faces such as Borsche, Peters, Windeck, Preiss and Klaus Kinski of course. The components in this film are the usual. It is once again police vs Mabuse as the title already says. They can never be sure where he is or if he is even alive. Technology plays a role in here and Mabuse also manages to control people's minds again, which is also a common occurrence in these crime films about him. As a whole, I cannot say I enjoyed the watch very much. Then again, I have never been the biggest fan of these Mabuse films and the absence of Froebe who I always like is not helping either. I do not recommend the watch.

I'm not familiar with the whole Dr. Mabuse series but I did recently watch "The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse" and didn't find it especially interesting -- Fritz Lang or no Fritz Lang. This one is, if anything, an improvement, though the metric is a just-noticeable-difference.Dr. Mabuse is at large again, though he's supposed to be dead, and this time he's haunting London. German detectives join Scotland Yard inspector Peter Van Eyck to track him down.Well, they certainly OUGHT to track him down. He and his kidnapped British scientist have developed a secret ray that operates like a flash camera. But instead of taking the subject's picture, it hypnotizes him into obeying Mabuse's orders. The spell lasts until the victim wakes up. This is not meant, I hope, as some kind of allegory involving the Third Reich.The print on my DVD was tacky -- really fuzzy -- and the score was terrible, 1950s jazz with blaring trumpets during the exciting moments and vibes during the suspenseful ones.What is Dr. Mabuse's agenda, anyway? He has hypnotized just about everybody who counts, including a member of the Royals. Under his spell, there is talk of "a new government." In a James Bond movie, such a Napoleon of Crime would want to rule the world. Here, Mabuse just wants to rob the Royal Mail.There were hundreds of these movies ground out as second features by Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s -- Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, The Falcon, Mr. Moto, The Man in the Brown MacKintosh, The Cowardly Lion, Sherlock Holmes, The Wizard of Oz, Philo Vance, Philo Logy, The Thin Man, The Fat Man, The Mesomorph, The Logical Positivist. They came and went without much notice except that they wound up somehow in the stash of Turner Movie Classics. That, alas, is the only immortality this movie deserves.Hypnosis ray, my foot!

The Dr Mabuse series was revived in 1960 by none other than Fritz Lang(1000 Eyes Of Dr Mabuse).A total of six were released from 1960 to 1964.This is the fifth entry.Dr Mabuse has taken over the mind of a professor.It's confusing as heck but Mabuse is dead.However his spirit keeps bouncing from body to body.Mabuse is plotting his next anarchist move against society.Using his henchmen he steals an electronic device that can manipulate a person's will.Mabuse can control an army with this device.Testing it out he makes an innocent postman commit murder.A hangman commits suicide.The device is in perfect working order.Mabuse plots to do no less than overthrow the English government.(He hasn't had much luck previously in Germany which may explain the move to England). Mabuse begins to subvert the will of many key government officials.Even Scotland Yard isn't immune to this fiendish device. Can anybody defeat Dr Mabuse or will England be his?There is a flaw or two with this movie.You don't have to watch any of the previous movies to enjoy this one.However it would help.The comic relief is the hero's doddering old mother.She fancies herself as a detective.While she does provide some helpful answers you really would like to throttle her.On the plus side this is a great plot.It moves along at a breakneck pace and is well directed.The photography is top notch.The acting is fine(or as fine as dubbing allows).This is a worthwhile entry in the series.