REVIEW: The Testament of Dr Mabuse

Netflix plot summary:
Seasoned criminal Doctor Mabuse (Rudolf Klein Rogge) has been locked in an asylum for the past 10 years, straddling the line between life and death. One of his last projects involves a mysterious manifesto that sets in place a crime-filled future. Discovering that the creepy article's text seems to predict disturbing events, detective Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) tries to put together the pieces of this mind-bending case.

Admittedly, I am very hit or miss about old movies. I mean, I like certain ones (Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, Maltese Falcon), but others that are supposedly “classics” drive me crazy (Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane). And others took awhile to grow on me (Four Feathers). And it’s even more tentative with old foreign movies. The last old foreign movie I think I saw was something for a college class by Engmar Bergman and it was supposed to reflect a mythological story… and it didn’t, and it sucked. So I was a little trepidatious when Netflix recommended Testament of Dr Mabuse to me because 1933 German movies are not a part of my “all-time favorites” list. But I was intrigued by the mystery investigation part of the plot.

It took a bit to get into it, but was really enjoyable. I don’t want to give too much away (it IS a whodunit, after all), but it had much the same elements as many modern investigative movies / shows: a tough chief inspector, photographs taken of the crime scene, ballistic comparison evidence, a high-speed car chase / shoot out, and crime syndicate rings run by mentally unstable geniuses. There was also the required young couple who was being torn apart because the criminals were not releasing him from the gang, insane asylum patients who may or may not be faking it, explosions (that pre-date computer effects!), and a resolution that didn’t fully end the story (like how horror movies always have one last shot of the killer, or Law & Order episodes never resolve TOTALLY happily). So, though it was black and white and in German, it felt very much like any other crime thriller. One review I found calls is the "prototype thriller... back when they weren't cliches."

Overall, I’d rate it “highly enjoyable and a good candidate to own if I happened to run across it in stores.”