The last film in the career of a grand filmmaker is often not among their best, and Fritz Lang is no exception to this trend. However, his 1960 thriller The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse stands out as one of the more intriguing among great directors’ final films.
Lang returns to the character of Dr. Mabuse, the figure that has defined much of his filmmaking journey. The saga began in 1922 with Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, where Rudolf Klein-Rogge portrayed the titular psychiatrist who wielded his diabolical intellect, mastery of disguise, and hypnotic abilities to construct a criminal empire. This silent film became immensely popular, establishing itself as a classic of Weimar cinema. In 1933, Lang directed The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, a sound sequel that marked his last film made in Germany before the rise of the Nazis forced him into exile in France and Hollywood.
The screenplay for The Thousand Eyes was co-written by Lang and Heinz Oskar Wuttig, drawing inspiration from Jan Fethke's 1931 Esperanto novel Mr. Tot Aĉetas Mil Okulojn ("Mr. Tot Buys Thousand Eyes"), although it bears no direct relation to the original story. Set in contemporary West Germany, the film unfolds more than twenty-five years after Dr. Mabuse's death. The narrative follows police inspector Kras (played by Gert Fröbe) as he investigates a series of mysterious deaths at Berlin’s luxurious Hotel Luxor. Kras suspects that either Mabuse has returned or that someone is mimicking his methods to establish a new criminal empire. Among the hotel’s guests is Henry Travers (played by Peter Van Eyck), an American industrialist who rescues Marion Menil (played by Dawn Addams), an attractive but suicidal woman seeking refuge from her abusive husband. As Kras delves deeper into the mystery, he reluctantly accepts assistance from Peter Cornelius (played by Wolfgang Preiss), a blind self-professed psychic who has aided him in previous investigations.
While The Thousand Eyes may not be mistaken for a true classic, it represents a solid crime thriller for its time. Modern audiences might perceive it as resembling a low-budget television film despite being produced by Artur Brauner, whose CCC Film company would later become a powerhouse in West German and European cinema. This perception may stem from the relatively unremarkable black-and-white cinematography by Karl Löb and the film’s confinement to a single hotel setting. Nevertheless, Lang enhances the overall experience with an impressive car chase scene towards the film's conclusion.
The plot weaves together numerous characters who are not what they seem, featuring several intriguing twists that allow Lang to build upon his Weimar-era legacy while presenting Mabuse as an old-school archvillain employing clever tactics to expand his criminal empire. Simultaneously, Lang situates his narrative within contemporary concerns; Travers's involvement in nuclear technology introduces themes of potential sabotage targeting plants and facilities—a notion particularly unsettling during the Cold War era that divided Germany at that time. Furthermore, the main antagonist presents himself not merely as a common crime lord but as a psychopathic megalomaniac intent on world domination, foreshadowing similar flamboyant villains that would later populate James Bond films. The connection to this iconic series is further illustrated through the use of modern technology within the film, including a "cool" gadget used for discreetly assassinating one of Mabuse's victims early on.
Lang seizes this opportunity to confront recent dark chapters in German history and explore his own relationship with it. Certain historians have posited that the fictional Dr. Mabuse from Lang's 1922 film served as an inspiration for Adolf Hitler; however, in The Thousand Eyes, it is the fictional villains who draw inspiration from real-life Nazis who bugged elite Berlin hotels to blackmail and spy on high-profile guests—a scandal later depicted by Tinto Brass in his erotic period drama Salon Kitty.
The Thousand Eyes is a film ahead of its time, featuring omnipresent hidden video cameras that allow villains to exercise almost complete control over the hotel through a closed-circuit television system. This concept feels uncomfortably familiar to modern audiences, who might be shocked by the extent to which surveillance has become a part of our lives.
Despite its commercial success upon release, Lang faced personal challenges that led him to retire from filmmaking due to failing eyesight. Following this decision, Brauner produced five sequels featuring Gert Fröbe and Peter Van Eyck occasionally reprising different roles within these narratives. In 1971, Spanish exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco revived the iconic character in Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse, while French director Claude Chabrol created a relatively obscure remake titled Dr. M in 1990.
While The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse may not rank among Fritz Lang’s greatest achievements, it remains an engaging thriller that encapsulates many themes relevant both during its release and today.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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