Returnofinvisbledrmabuse

A man is murdered on a train which brings in Inspector Lohmann.The man had information on the Chicago Mafia in a briefcase which now is empty.The police decide to trail a Mrs Pizarro who is a contact of the Chicago Mafia.She is also tailed by Joe Como FBI agent and a woman photographer Maria Sabrehem.In a rather gruesome scene she is roasted alive by a flame thrower from a truck outside the Bimbo Bar.
Lohmann(aka Inspector Kras) swears that a dead man is behind of all this.A dead man
named Mabuse.(Which really brings up the weirdness quotient as Lohmann is either channeling Inspector Kras from 1000 Eyes or he really is Kras with a different name).
In a strange church meeting we find that Joe Como may actually be Nick Scapio, an agent
from the Chicago Mafia.Dr Mabuse wants to make a deal with the Chicago gangsters for some undisclosed reason.He has a serum which makes a person a slave to the will of Mabuse.He intends to wreak havoc in the city as a show of good faith to the Mob very soon.
Cleverly using prisoners from the local prison Mabuse guides them to create mass havoc & terror.Also in the prison (and creator of the serum) is Maria's father, unjustly imprisioned and seemingly insane.Lohmann confronts prison Warden Wolf and his assistant Bohlmer with information that
someone in the prison is helping prisoners escape.The officals scoff at Lohmann.
Later,Sandro in prison for life,is loose and has just killed an informant by crushing him into a wall with
a truck.Como & Lohmann chase Sandro and capture him.He seems to have no will of his own.Hearing
a voice Sandro throws himself out of the police station window to his death.Lohmann summons Wolff
to a meeting and warns him his life is in danger.Upon leaving,Wolff's car is bombed and he is killed.
Lohmann confronts Como with the knowledge that he is Nick Scapio and sends him to the prison
now run by Bohlmer.There Como learns that Mabuse plans to send a drugged army of prisoners to the
nuclear power plant and set off an explosion, levelling most of the city.Como is exposed and left
to die with Maria via drowning.After a narrow escape he joins Lohmann at the Power Plant.
The police fend off the army of thugs and Lohmann confronts the mastermind.It is the dead man Warden
Wolf.He rips off his disguise to reveal he is actually another dead man, Mabuse.Lohmann is stunned
and this cements the theory that Kras is Lohmann.After a violent struggle Mabuse is seemingly
killed in a train explosion in a tunnel.Atomized by the explosion,his body is never found.
All wrapped up, right?Wrong.This has the most paranoid ending of ANY film.Lohmann is staring out
the window of his office.He tells his assitant the case isn't closed.As a montage of everyday
citizens parade by, Lohmann says that any of them could be ...Dr Mabuse.
This is a fast paced, worthy sequel to 1000 Eyes.Even more so than it's parent, Return is more
paranoid and rightfully so.Even the authorities(prison officials, police etc) can't really be
trusted as many of them are not who they claim to be.Also in this film Mabuse is treated by
many (the clergy,the underwrold and even Lohmann) to be almost a supernatural force of evil that
can only be contained but never destroyed.
Below is the next film in the series, Invisible Dr Mabuse...

Invisible Dr Mabuse
A young actress (Karin Dor as Liane)in a Grand Guigonol troupe seems to be haunted by a ghost.A government operative is investigating the troupe and meets his end via a killer clown.The FBI sends in Joe Como(Lex Barker from the 2nd in the series,The Return of Dr Mabuse).Joe and Liane cross paths.
Liane's former boyfriend had created an invisibilty gadget.But he presumably was killed in a car accident.Dr Mabuse and his gang think that Liane knows the whereabouts of the invisibilty device.The boyfriend is in fact not dead but horribly mangled due to the crash.He is using the gadget to stay near his love.So of course not wanting to frighten her with his looks he just scares the hell out of her by being invisible, moving things and touching
her when no one else is around.(Nothing like invisible grab ass in the shower).
Mabuse & Joe Como both attempt to wrest the gadget from the boyfriend.But it looks like Mabuse may have the upper hand and chaos will reign supreme.An invisible gang of super criminals would be hard to beat.In fact when Mabuse does get his hands on the device he sends an invisible gang to the airport with the intent to kill a few world leaders, plunging civilization into chaos.
Como is locked in a dungeon in a kill or be killed situation against Mabuse's men.He needs to notify the authorities in time about Mabuse's plans.But time is what he doesn't have...
In the series of Mabuse thrillers this one grades out at #5 of the 6 but way above the stinker Death Ray Of Dr Mabuse.The movie "borrows" a bit from some of the early Universal classics like The Invisible Man and Phantom Of The Opera.Still worth watching though the formula was setting in.But the next film in the series is a classic.
Click on Testament Of Dr Mabuse....