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Professor Larsen (O.E.Hasse) has just developed a death ray in his
secret laboratory in Malta, and to keep it from falling into the wrong
hands, the British Secret Service sends their top agent Bob Anders (Peter
Van Eyck) along with the seemingly airheaded blonde Judy (Rika Dialina) -
whom Anders soon enough loses for no apparent reason but to her greatest
joy (!?!) to a brothel - to Malta to guard the Professor and his
invention.
Initially, the Professor, who hasn't sold the death ray to any one
gouvernment or organisation yet, turns down Anders' offer to guard him,
but eventually, after Doctor Mabuse tries to get his hands on the death
ray - these powerful inventions seem to draw supervillains like honey
draws the bees - Larsen asks Anders to keep a close watch over his
laboratory ... even if Anders seems to be more interested in Larsen's
niece Gilda (Yvonne Furneaux).
One question remains, who could Mabuse be:
Larsen's assistant Krishna (Valéry
Inkijinoff) ? Nope, he turns out to be a Secret Service agent.
The head of the Malta division of the Secret Service Quency (Leo Genn)
? Nope, he turns out to be a Secret Service agent (duh).
Judy ? Nope, guess what, she turns out to be a Secret Service agent as
well.
The brothers Montas (Gustavo Rojo, Massimo Pietrobon), who have housed
Larsen's lab ? Nope, even if they are no Secret Service agents.
Ultimately, Doctor Mabuse turns out to be Director Botani (Claudio
Gora), head of the local museum, and ultimately he and his frogmen (men in
diving suits, not real frog men, just to set the record straight) attack
Larsen's laboratory and almost blow up the world ... wouldn't it be for
Anders, who has removed a vital part of the death ray mirror and thus
rendered it useless.
It all ends in the usual shoot-out and car chase, and in the end,
Director Botani completely loses his mind and it becomes apparent that the
real Doctor Mabuse, who was never even in this film, has only taken over
his mind ...
The last film of the Doctor Mabuse series produced by
Artur Brauners CCC-Filmkunst in the 1960's (Brauner tried his hands
on Mabuse once more in 1972 with Jess Franco's failed Dr.M schlägt zu/La
Venganza del Doctor Mabuse) clearly shows the influence the James
Bond series was beginning to have on films like that in the
mid-1960's: The hero is a spy posing as a playboy who tries (and succeeds)
to get into the panties of pretty much all the female cast members, the
locations are exotic, and th plot as such has pretty much become a framing
device for a few so-so action scenes ... and in a way. this all is
charming, even though much of the dusty Krimi-charm of earlier Mabuse-films
is gone.
In all, Die Todesstrahlen des Dr.Mabuse is certainly not
a good movie, but it has this certain retro-charm of mid-60's espionage
thrillers that makes it worth your while nevertheless.
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