Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Enjoyable German crime thriller stars Gert "Goldfinger" Frobe as police commissioner Lohmann, faced with a series of crimes perpetrated by convicts. These convicts have been turned into obedient slaves by the nefarious, mysterious mastermind Dr. Mabuse, and are able to escape prison and return there once their deeds are done. Giving Lohmann an assist is American FBI agent Joe Como (Lex Barker); also involved is a sexy female reporter, Maria Sabrehm (the delectable Daliah Lavi).Capably directed by Harald Reinl ("The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism"), this is good, zesty entertainment that gets by due to effective lighting schemes, a swift pace, and a snappy script. The movie rarely stops moving, presumably to keep us focused on the story and prevent us from thinking about it too much. It's a delight to see heavyset, jovial Frobe as a hero, and Barker (just one of many Tarzan performers over the years) is solid as a character about whom you're never quite sure; whose side is he really on? Lavi is appealing while also functioning as major eye candy. The strong supporting cast includes Fausto Tozzi as the sleazy looking Warden Wolf, Werner Peters as his associate Bohmler, Wolfgang Preiss as the slippery Mabuse, Rudolf Forster as a disgraced chemist, Rudolf Fernau as a priest, and Joachim Mock as Detective Voss.Sometimes startlingly violent (one victim is turned into a human torch), but pretty stylish throughout, "The Return of Dr. Mabuse" is just plain fun for any lover of this film series.Seven out of 10.

The style and direction of the movie reminded me of the later British Hitchcock films as well as some of the Sherlock Holmes flicks of the 1930's and '40's, even though this German movie was made in 1961. The quality of the print I viewed also seemed to place it as an older film by a couple of decades, but in that regard it added to the atmosphere of the story. I'm not familiar with the prior Mabuse films as most of the other posters on this board are, so my review isn't influenced by those other works.Of course the mystery lies in the identity of the title character, regularly mentioned but never seen, with hints of his previous demise and possible after life as a ghost of some sort. The voice of Mabuse makes contact at various times with Inspector Lohmann (Gert Frobe) and a mysterious contact who could be an undercover policeman or a mob contact from a Chicago based syndicate. It's not enough that Lex Barker goes by Joe Como and Nick Scappio, but later takes on a third guise as Bob Arco. I thought Mabuse figured out his identity just a little too easily with the Maria hostage ruse; I would have thought the character would be more wary of a trick like that.I was a bit surprised to see that gruesome flamethrower death scene near the beginning of the story, particularly involving a woman. When a similar apparatus appeared later on with Maria (Dahlia Lavi) as a target I caught myself wincing a bit. I would have hated to see her go out like that.The story takes enough twists and turns to make it rather hard to follow as it nears the finale, and the payoff as to the identity of Mabuse came off as a downer actually since he wasn't a character introduced earlier in the story. There was enough mis-direction in the picture to suggest Mabuse as any number of people like Warden Wolf, the creepy Bohmler, or even Maria's father the Professor. Come to think of it, the Professor said he WAS Mabuse, and you kept watching for that to play itself out to no avail. So having Mabuse show up as someone else altogether was a bit of a disconnect for me. I did come away though wondering, as did Lohmann, that perhaps Mabuse found a way to escape his fate in a way that Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty managed to do on more than one occasion.

The previous Dr. Mabuse movies were mostly mystery thrillers but this movie is more of a crime thriller, also with some certain '60's funkiness added to it all. The movie is more starting to head into the 'James Bond' sort of direction with this entry, also by having some silly gadgets in it, used to murder people with. It also all means that the story is less believable and even a bit silly, compared to the previous Dr. Mabuse entries. In the movie it's also kept a mystery for long who Dr. Mabuse is and he's mostly featured in shadows and underneath masking clothes, though if you've seen the previous "Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse", which got released only just one year before this movie, you already know who Dr. Mabuse is and how he looks like, so it just seems a bit silly all and in some ways this movie is just basically more of the same, compared to the previous Dr. Mabuse entries, especially the last one "Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse". There unfortunately also are some unnecessary plot lines and characters. Or differently put; some characters and plot lines we just don't care about!All of the action and especially the editing of it all looks by todays standards terribly outdated and clumsy. But who can really blame them. Action movies and action-style was basically still non-existent in 1961. Then again, the movie also isn't too action filled. The movie at least doesn't lay its emphasis on it and rather relies on its script and the thriller and mystery elements in it.The overall style and atmosphere is great. It has a sort of dark, mysterious atmosphere, that is being enhanced by the fact that the movie was shot in black & white. Perhaps the only true thing that all of the Dr. Mabuse movies have in common (with the exception of "Dr. M schlägt zu" that was shot in color). Because lets face it, the Dr. Mabuse movies from the '20's, '30's and '60's are all quite different in style, approach and overall execution of it all, simply because of the different time periods the movies got made in. Also the character of Dr. Mabuse changed and the Mabuse in this movie does not operate the same as the one from the '20's and '30's. But that's OK all. It sort of gives each Dr. Mabuse movie its own identity and also makes sure that all of the movies are still filled with surprises. The character of Dr. Mabuse himself also doesn't get any weaker because of it.The presence of the character of Dr. Mabuse of course really uplifts the movies and makes the movie much better than just any other average thriller from the same period. It's a great villainous, classic crime character, with lots of power over people.Gert Fröbe is not as great in this movie as he was in "Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse" and it's of course also a bit weird and confusing that he this time plays a totally different character as he did in the previous entry "Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse" (same goes for some other actors within this movie, such as for instance Werner Peters). But of course that doesn't take away that he still gives away one fine performance. Wolfgang Preiss reprises his role from the previous Dr. Mabuse movie again and does a good job at it, though I was his role was bigger.Not that great when compared to the previous 3 Dr. Mabuse movies but on its own this is simply a good and certainly enjoyable early crime thriller.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This film has had more titles than some folks have shorts.No matter what the title we do have a nifty follow up to the classic 1000 Eyes Of Dr Mabuse. A man is murdered on a train which brings in Inspector Lohmann.In a rather gruesome scene a woman representing the Chicago Mafia is roasted alive by a flame thrower in a truck.This brings in Joe Como,FBI agent.Or is he really Nick Scapio from the Chicago mob? Dr Mabuse wants to make a deal with the Chicago gangsters for some undisclosed reason.He has a chemical which makes a person a slave to the will of Dr Mabuse.Mabuse intends to take over and destroy a nuclear power plant in the city as a show of good faith.Cleverly using prisoners from the local prison Mabuse intends to create mass havoc & terror. This film is never dull and will keep you guessing right until the end.It also has one of the more paranoid endings in the Dr Mabuse series.If you can find it enjoy it!