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

Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse premiered on April 21, 1933, in Budapest.

Originally 3341 metres long, the film had been banned in Germany.

It wasn't until August 24, 1951, that the film was first shown in Germany

in a shortened 2998-metre version.

The original negative of that version survived at the Deutsches Filminstitut (DIF)

but was severely damaged.

Therefore, a 1951 duplicate positive

from the collection of the DIF

served as a basis for the restoration.

Whenever possible, missing scenes from the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv

and the Filmmuseum München were inserted.

In its present form, the film runs 3270 metres.

The film was restored by the Deutsches Filminstitut (DIF)

in collaboration with the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv,

the Filmmuseum München,

KirchMedia and ZDF/ARTE.

Laboratory: L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna

Sound Restoration: KirchMedia, Munich;

Martin Sawyer Sound Services, London.

"Magic Fire Music," old man.

HOMICIDE SQUAD

INSPECTOR KARL LOHMANN,

INSPECTOR WALTER JANSEN

HERMAN BUCHER, WILHELM ROTHER

DR. OTTO JAHNKE, DR. ERICH GÜNTHER

You know that one, Müller?

That'sfrom Die Walküre.

Those are the girls who carry dead police inspectors

directly up to heaven from the Alexanderplatz with a "Hey ho."

On horseback.

Horseback?

Certainly. Expenses don't allow for a car.

Well, Inspector, when it comes to corpses,

the state sometimes has...

a fit of generosity.

That's what you think.

Believe it or not, Müller, tonight will be the first time

I make it to the theatre in time for the first act.

Knock on wood, Inspector.

There. What did I tell you?

Tell 'em I'm dead.

Police headquarters. Inspector Lohmann's office.

Inspector.

What is it?

Hofmeister would like to speak with you, Inspector.

What?

Our former colleague who got into trouble with foreign currency?

That scoundrel?

Tell him his call is the most shameless affront

I've ever experienced!

And tell him to go to hell!

I'm sorry, but Inspector Lohmann has already left

and he says you...

And he says you can go to hell!

God help me!

Let me tell you something, Müller.

I once had high hopes for that fellow Hofmeister.

I gave him his first chance.

And what does the scoundrel do?

He takes a bribe from a black-market currency trader.

Phooey!

The man I would have staked my life for

disgraces me by getting fired from the service

like a bad egg.

Police headquarters. Inspector Lohmann's office.

He has to hear me out, for God's sake!

Tell him it's a matter of life and death.

Inspector, I think you really ought to...

Of course I'II miss the first act again!

I want to redeem myself in his eyes!

I finally figured out their scheme.

It's a monstrous business!

They've nearly done me in three times! I hardly dare cross the street!

Lohmann speaking. What is it?

Inspector?

Thank you.

Cut out the nonsense and tell me what's wrong.

Yes, Inspector.

I've finally discovered...

Just a moment, please.

Just in case, Inspector,

please have a record made of my report.

Headphones. Take this down.

I was actually tracing counterfeit money.

I wanted to redeem myself in your eyes, Inspector.

For four days - 96 hours -

I lay up there at the air vent,

and now I know who's behind it all.

But you'll probably think I'm crazy.

Who is it?

I swear I'm telling the truth.

I know who's behind it all! I heard his name with my own ears!

And now they know I know the name.

My God! The lights have gone out!

Lohmann, help me, for God's sake!

Can you trace that call?

For God's sake! Hofmeister!

What street?

Number 23? Thanks.

Gloria

Lovely are the maidens in Batavia

Dear God.

He must have gone out of his mind from terror.

A pathological condition that is not as rare as one might suspect.

Exposure to catastrophes

such as explosions, earthquakes and railway accidents...

in short, exposure to fright and horror

often triggers insanity.

Perhaps the most interesting case of such pathological conditions

is the case of Dr. Mabuse.

Here he goes again.

I shall briefly recount the history of this case.

The patient lived a decidedly double life.

He was a renowned doctor with a large private practice.

Aided by an almost superhuman logic,

he used his profound knowledge of hypnosis

to commit crimes of a magnitude previously deemed impossible.

For months the police sought

the mastermind behind those crimes,

the man behind the curtain.

At last they discovered his whereabouts.

But Mabuse decided not to flee

but rather to mount armed resistance,

and he barricaded himself in his house with four loyal henchmen.

He refused demands to surrender to state authorities, saying,

"I am the state!"

A barrage of bullets forced the police to retreat.

Finally, soldiers stormed the house with hand grenades.

Two of the defenders were killed. Two were captured.

Mabuse, however, had disappeared.

One prisoner revealed his hiding place:

a counterfeiting lab from which he planned to launch a massive attack

on the German currency system.

The police force their way in to seize him

only to find he had gone hopelessly insane.

Judging by his incoherent remarks,

he had seen, during the previous night, the ghosts of all those he had slain.

Apparently it was the horror of that experience

that overpowered this phenomenal mind,

which for so long had straddled

the fine line between genius and madness,

and literally deranged it.

Mabuse was committed to an insane asylum

and to this day has not spoken a word to anyone.

Silent and motionless, he remains in the position you see here.

The patient withdrew into his own ego,

depriving us of any glimpse into his inner life.

But suddenly the clinical profile changed.

We observed that Mabuse's hand

continuously made writing motions

in the air, on the wall and on the bedspread.

We gave him pencil and paper.

At first, he covered the paper with senseless scribbling.

Two years ago, however,

certain words began to appear on the paper.

Then, sentences began to form,

still meaningless and confused.

Gradually they grew more coherent and logical,

and at last we began to get glimpses

into the extraordinary phenomenon that was his mind.

His thoughts still move in the same criminal channels as before.

Whatever Mabuse writes

is based upon incontrovertible logic

and serves as a perfect guide for the commission of crimes

worked out to the minutest detail.

No. Nothing can happen to us if we follow the doctor's methods.

- Oh, yeah? - What do you mean, "oh, yeah"?

The first attacks on the snitch failed.

So what? Tough luck.

So we called in Division 2-B to handle the matter.

If they succeed, fine.

And if they don't -

if it looks like that snitch might rat on us -

one single phone call and this whole place gets blown sky-high.

Stop scratching, Fritzi.

It won't come to that.

Before that guy can open his mouth,

he'll be done for.

I'd feel better if they didn't resort to murder.

What do you mean, murder?

A guy can have something fall on his head, can't he?

A nice, clean little accident.

I don't care how you make it look.

I just don't want anything to do with murder.

Scared?

Can't bear the sight of blood?

Let me tell you something,

though it's really none of your damn business.

I've killed two people.

I know what it means to kill.

And that's precisely why

I want nothing to do with murder.

Leave him alone, Fritzi. What do you know about Kent?

The phone!

Yeah?

It's been taken care of? Bravo!

Really?

Just 20 minutes later?

Lohmann himself?

Continue writing.