THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE On Blu-ray From Eureka

 

THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE (original German title IM STAHLNETZ DES DR. MABUSE) is the first sequel in Artur Brauner's Mabuse series. Brauner didn't get on all that well with Fritz Lang (no surprises there), so Harald Reinl took over the directorial reins. 

In RETURN, Gert Frobe comes back as well, this time as Inspector Lohmann instead of Inspector Kras, although it's basically the same role. (Lohmann was the police official in Fritz Lang's original M and THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE.) Frobe is joined by Lex Barker, who plays stalwart FBI agent Joe Como. The duo investigate a series of strange assassinations, which are somehow tied into a prison. Is the sinister hand of Dr. Mabuse behind it all??

THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE fits more into the basic Krimi formula, which is no surprise, considering that Harald Reinl initiated the genre with the Edgar Wallace adaptation THE FACE OF THE FROG. RETURN is more brutal, and more action packed, than the first CCC Mabuse film, with a woman being killed by a flamethrower and a blind man being slammed up against a wall by a large truck. Mabuse's main goal in this entry is to gain access to a mind control device, so that he can create armies of men totally under his command. The climax features a motley group of convicts being sent by Mabuse to attack a power station, but the supposed super soldiers are a tired-looking lot of middle-aged men who appear more down and out instead of dangerous. 

The movie does have a nice pace to it--Harald Reinl wasn't on the level of Fritz Lang, but he was a solid, commercial filmmaker who made crowd-pleasing products. THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE is a well-made thriller with plenty of fantastic elements to it. 

The MABUSE LIVES! set from Eureka has THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE on the same disc as THE INVISIBLE DR. MABUSE. THE RETURN looks and sounds splendid, with a very sharp 1.66:1 black & white print. The audio brings out Peter Sandloff's wild music score. German and English audio dubs are provided, along with English subtitles. 

In Tim Lucas' introduction for THE RETURN, he discusses the movie's screenwriters Marc Behm and Ladislas Fodor, along with the career of Harald Reinl. David Kalat's audio commentary also discusses Reinl, with a long anecdote dealing with the director's association with Leni Riefenstahl. Kalat states that he loves THE RETURN, but he spends most of the first half of the film detailing the creation of the Rialto Edgar Wallace series. An original German trailer for the film is included, along with an American trailer that gives the movie's title as THE PHANTOM FIEND, and makes it seem like a low-budget monster flick. 

Also included is a half-hour interview with Alice Brauner, the daughter of Artur Brauner. She gives some intriguing insights into her father's life, the entire Mabuse series, and what the CCC company (which is still going strong) is up to now. Ms. Brauner also provides an amusing aside concerning Jess Franco. 

THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE had a DVD release on a Mabuse set from good old Retromedia, but Eureka's version is by far the ultimate presentation of the film. I'll be covering the rest of the individual entries in the MABUSE LIVES! set in the future.