Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse | |
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Directed by | Fritz Lang |
Produced by | Artur Brauner |
Written by |
Fritz Lang Heinz Oskar Wuttig |
Based on |
Mr. Tot Aĉetas Mil Okulojn by Jan Fethke |
Starring |
Dawn Addams Peter van Eyck Gert Fröbe |
Music by |
Bert Grund Werner Müller |
Cinematography | Karl Löb |
Edited by |
Walter Wischniewsky Waltraut Wischniewsky |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Prisma Filmverleih GmbH |
Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
Country |
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Language | German |
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (Ger. Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse) is a 1960 black-and-white crime film/thriller made in West Germany. It was a West German/French/Italian international co-production and the last film directed by Fritz Lang. It starred Peter van Eyck, Dawn Addams and Gert Fröbe. The film made use of the character Dr. Mabuse, who had appeared in earlier films by Lang back in 1922 and 1933. The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse spawned a film series of German "Mabuse" films that were released over the following years to compete with Rialto Film's Krimi films.
A reporter is killed in his car on his way to work. Inspector Kras gets a call from his informant Peter Cornelius, a blind fortune-teller, who had a vision of the crime but not the perpetrator. Meanwhile, Henry Travers, a rich American industrialist, checks into the Luxor Hotel, which has been outfitted by the Nazis during World War II to spy on people in every room. He becomes involved with Marian Menil who is being threatened by her evil clubfooted husband. Hieronymus B. Mistelzweig, purportedly a salesman, who is also a guest in the hotel always seems to be lurking about. These disparate characters eventually get together to solve what appears to be the re-emergence of the long-dead Dr. Mabuse.
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was co-produced by CCC Filmkunst (West Germany), C.E.I. Incom (Italy) and Critérion Film (France). The original titles were Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse (German), Il diabolico Dr. Mabuse (Italian) and Le diabolique docteur Mabuse (French).
It was the last film directed by Fritz Lang, who had returned from the US to Germany to make what would turn out to be a total of three films for producer Artur Brauner: The Tiger of Eschnapur, The Indian Tomb and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. The film made use of the character Dr. Mabuse invented by Norbert Jacques, whom Lang had used in two previous films back in 1922 (Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, 2 parts) and 1933 (Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse).