This spellbinding work was Fritz Lang's last film to be made in Germany. The negative reaction of the Nazi government to this story of a criminal mastermind destabilizing society through terror crimes prompted Lang to leave the country for his own safety. The parallels between the film, with its plot of a hidden criminal psychopath issuing orders to his followers to carry out acts of industrial sabotage, currency forging and other attacks on the public safety, and the Nazis' thuggish tactics in seizing power in Germany, make for an interesting subtext. Though coming at the end of the expressionist era in filmmaking, "Testament" contains many fascinating images and themes consistent with this rich movement in German film. The chase scene near the end, where Dr. Baum flees from the police in his car down a tree-lined road at night, is a perfect visual realization of his increasing mania, as the white tree-trunks spin madly past at ever-accelerating speed. As is often the case in German expressionist films, much of the plot revolves around insanity and takes place in an insane asylum, where the mad Dr. Mabuse of the title is incarcerated. The forces of order and stability are represented by Inspector Lohmann, a stout, shrewd policeman, whose no-nonsense approach contrasts sharply with that of the sensitive, imaginative intellectual, Dr. Baum. But despite Lohmann's virtues, the conclusion of the film is a slightly ambiguous one, as evil is not overcome by good, but instead collapses under the weight of its own insanity. The final scene, with the asylum door shutting upon the broken criminal mastermind, does not provide a solution to the problem of evil, but only leaves us feeling relieved that this time, at least, we have escaped intact from its clutches.
Review of The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
