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Dr. M schlägt zu
The Vengeance of Doctor Mabuse
La Venganza del Doctor Mabuse / El Doctor Mabuse / Der Mann, der sich Mabuse nannte
West Germany/Spain 1972
produced by Artur Brauner, Ignacio Gutiérrez-Solana, Karl Heinz Mannchen (executive) for Fénix Cooperativa Cinematográfica, Copercines, Telecine/CCC Filmkunst
directed by Jess Franco
starring Fred Williams, Jack Taylor, Ewa Strömberg, Roberto Camardiel, Siegfried Lowitz, Moisés Augusto Rocha, Gustavo Re, Eva Garden, Ángel Menéndez, Friedrich Joloff, Beni Cardoso, Jess Franco, Andrés Monales, Guillermo Méndez, Linda Hastreiter, Monica Swinn
story by Art Bern (= Artur Brauner), Jess Franco, screenplay by Jess Franco, music by David Khune (= Jess Franco)
Dr. Mabuse
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Doctor Mabuse (Jack Taylor) has his gang steal a busload of moon rock
he needs to brainwash people into obedience to ... well, rule the world I
suppose. He also has his second in command Leslie (Beni Cardoso) and his
disfigured mute brute Andros (Moisés
Augusto Rocha) kidnap a girl to try to brainwash her ... but
it only kills her. Back to the drawing board for Mabuse of course, but the
problem is that stripper Jenny (Ewa Strömberg) has witnessed the
kidnapping and now tells (ineffective) country sheriff Thomas (Fred
Williams), who soon decides it's best to shadow Jenny because she might be
kidnapped by Mabuse's gang ... and she's still kidnapped by Leslie, then
brainwashed by Mabuse (successfully, too) and sent out as bait. Soon
Mabuse knows that Dr Orloff (Siegfried Lowitz), pretty much the only one
intelligent enough to seriously spar with him, has picked up his trail, so
Mabuse has Orloff killed and his niece Wanda (Eva Garden) kidnapped. And
while sheriff Thomas's investigations still make no headway whatsoever,
Andros falls in love with Wanda and now kills everyone standing in the way
of this love, including Mabuse and Leslie. And then he sets Mabuse's
hideout on fire too. Sheriff Thomas arrives only eventually, and probably
drawn to the flames more than anything else, but he manages to shoot
Andros dead and bring the whole thing to a wholly happy ending ... Even
though this film has its tongue firmly in cheek, enjoyably plays with pulp
clichees, does feature some great camerawork that among other things
proves how much Jess Franco could get out of even remotely interesting
architecture, and how he understood how to set up unusual shots, this is
not one of Franco's better ones. Basically, action and espionage was not
the genre he felt most comfortable in (at least as long as there was no
abundant nudity involved), and the whole thing is just too low budgeted to
tell a story of its scope. Sure, at least the Jess Franco fan (me
included) will find something interesting every here and there, but that's
just not enough to make a really interesting movie.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
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