7/10

5/10

9/10

One day, locked in his rubber room, the psychopathic genius Dr. Mabuse started writing down notes. At first they were just unintelligible scribbles. But then gradually the scribbles turned into words, the words into sentences, and the sentences into an enormously complex plan to establish-- yep, you guessed it --the Empire of Crime (Herrschaft des Verbrechens). Unlike ordinary this-worldly empires, however, the purpose of Marbuse's is not to acquire wealth or territory. Rather, it aims solely to inspire Fear and Terror.

The best part is that this plan has a cold and overarching logic to it, like some sort of monstrous Hegelian treatise. Let's suppose that someone smart enough could mastermind, say, the perfect jewelry story robbery. Then who's to say that with a little more thought he couldn't mastermind a whole string of jewelry store robberies? And supposing that someone even smarter and with all the time in the world came along, and that he also had the ability to hynotize other men to do his will, then who's to say that he couldn't mastermind the robbery of entire nations? And then what would be stopping him from taking over the whole world and establishing the-- wait for it --Empire of Crime?

A couple of things, perhaps. One is the brilliant but catankerous Inspector Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), who just wants to get to the opera on time, but is instead fated to combat the ingenious Marbuse. The other is Kent (Gustav Diessel), a henchman of Marbuse who is inspired to reform by his girlfriend (Vera Liessem)--but they are trapped in a steel-enclosed room that is gradually filling with water and . . .

All this adds up to one of the most entertaining caper movies ever made. Despite its age it makes villian movies of the James Bond or Batman variety look like cheap imitations. Highly recommended.

8/10

6/10