Dr Mabuse Vs Scotland Yard/Death Ray Of Dr Mabuse

DR MABUSE VS SCOTLAND YARD   We have an interesting combination here.Dr Mabuse meets Bryan Edgar Wallace.The plot for this film was taken from Wallace's novel The Device.What we get is a crackerjack thriller that moves along briskly.However it has been cut from its original running time so there are a few moments you may be scratching your head in confusion.And yes there are SPOILERS!   Dr Mabuse has taken over the mind of professor  Pohland. Mabuse is dead having had his brain removed by Pohland in the last movie.Again this was carried out by the will of Mabuse.The spirit of Mabuse keeps bouncing from body to body.   Mabuse is plotting his next anarchist move against society. He arranges to have George Cockston freed from a prison train.His henchman stage a violent wreck.They kill Cockston's guards and spirit him away.Cockston meets Mabuse.Mabuse wants Cockston to work for a professor that has created a new device.It allows the person to project his will onto the mind and control the actions of others.   Cockston indeed gets in the professor's good graces.He tests the device out on a mild mannered postman.Secreting the device in a camera he takes a picture of the postman and commands him to kill the professor.He does so.When the postman confesses to the murder he does it as casually as if he were describing what he had for lunch.   This brings Inspector Volpius and Bill Turn onto the case.They have suspicions that Cockston may be the assistant.But there is an explosion that destroys the lab and the assistant.Volpius & Turn aren't convinced that the corpse is Cockston.   Mabuse wants one more test.He orders a hangman to commit suicide.It works and Mabuse knows that the time to strike is now.He heads to England to  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 Joe Rank of Scotland Yard isn't immune to this fiendish device. He helps mastermind an excellent train robbery that nets millions of pounds.More and more officials fall sway to the mysterious power that threatens England.   Turn and Volpius discover the hideout of Mabuse and the police stage a raid.But they wind up turning their guns on each other as commanded by Mabuse.It looks like Mabuse has finally won.But as always there is one fatal flaw he didn't plan ahead for.   There are a few holes in this flick.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 smother her with a pillow.Some ten minutes or so was hacked from the original print to fit in a tv time slot and that always hurts.   On the plus side this has 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 and really should have been the last of them.But we have...

THE DEATH RAY OF DR MABUSE     The death knell of Dr Mabuse is more like it. Those concerned with the film strayed from the original source material of Dr Mabuse. James Bond was extremely popular at the time and it heavily influenced this film.   What we have is a hodge podge of too many smart assed spies running around an island.A scientist has developed a death ray.Instead of buying it the British turn him down.(Idiots!).So the fellow decides to sell it to the highest bidder.Whomever has it will rule the world. Naturally Dr Mabuse has escaped the asylum and may have possessed the body of someone else.He too wants to get his hands on this device.   The British send Major Anders to an island where the death ray is housed.It seems that everybody on the island is a spy for various governments or Dr Mabuse.In fact, Anders is a pretty inept spy.He seems lost in a fog most of the time.We're treated to some of the most badly doubled fight scenes you'll ever see.The plot is too concerned with being hip and with it (and fails miserably).There is little plot advancement and a lot of unfunny spy situations keep popping up.    By the time this movie finally ends you'll wish Mabuse had been able to buy the death ray and turn it on to put you out of your misery. There are some exciting underwater fight scenes that predate Thunderball.But if there wasn't the Mabuse name in the title you'd pass it off as a bad Bond rip off.And it is. If it wasn't for a very tenuous three minutes at the beginning of the film and the last two minutes you wouldn't know you were watching a Dr Mabuse movie.   Sadly the Dr Mabuse series of Artur Brauner ends not with a bang, but a whimper.

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Mabuse was later resurrected by Jess Franco (sort of) in the Vengeance Of Dr Mabuse in the late 1960's.I've not seen the film so I can't comment upon it.   The early 1960's Mabuse series hit the mark more often than not.Wild and wooly and more often than not it was thought provoking filmmaking.That may have been unintentional as the producer was always working with a tight budget.Only the last film could be considered less than exciting.   Hopefully more films in the series will become available on dvd.Only time will tell.   Remember, anyone could be Dr Mabuse!!