The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Mabuse sits in an asylum writing plans for crimes that are then committed, and the asylum director has been reading them. Inspector Lohmann from M works the case; a gang member and the woman he loves are locked in a room that fills with water; the voice behind the curtain turns out to be a loudspeaker and a cutout; and a car chase through the night ends where the film began. Lang's last German film, banned by Goebbels before it opened. Lang said afterwards he had put Nazi slogans in the criminals' mouths, and whether or not he meant it then, the film plays that way now. Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Oscar Beregi, Otto Wernicke. Nero-Film, 1933.