The Dr. Mabuse Collection


The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961)           The Invisible Dr. Mabuse (1962)

The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse (1964)

Titles

 

 

The Return of Dr. Mabuse
Stars Gert Fröbe, Lex Barker, Daliah Lavi, Fausto Tozzi, Werner Peters
Directors: Harald Reinl
Theatrical Release Date: 1961
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Synopsis - Commissioner Lohmann is already planning his holidays. An unexpected phone call calls him back to work. A member of Interpol was murdered. The head of an organisation wants to come into contact with the gangster organisation of chicago. But who is this? Mysterious murders happen and all trails lead to a penitentiary. But there is Joe Como, FBI agent, who is helping commissioner Lohmann. But soon Lohmann doubts Comos' identity. When Lohmann sees the name of Dr. Mabuse mentioned in a book found by a victim he believes that Dr. Mabuse is the mind behind the crimes...

The Invisible Dr. Mabuse
Stars Lex Barker, Karin Dor, Siegfried Lowitz, Rudolf Fernau, Wolfgang Preiss
Directors: Harald Reinl
Theatrical Release Date: 1962
Genres: Horror, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Synopsis - Strange things happen in a revue theatre. The dancer Maria seems to be hunted by an invisible admirer. When the body of a probable FBI agent is found in a trunk the police asks FBI man Joe Como for help. Como gets interested in the revue theatre and an ominous transport firm soon. When he is receiving mysterious threatening letters he is sure that Dr. Mabuse has risen again. But what is going on at "Enterprise X" so that both the goverment and the mad genius in crime are interested in it?

The Secret of Dr. Mabuse aka The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse
Stars Peter van Eyck, O.E. Hasse, Yvonne Furneaux, Rika Dialina, Wolfgang Preiss
Directors: Hugo Fregonese, Victor De Santis

Theatrical Release Date: 1964
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Plot Outline - The evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.

Posters

Theatrical Releases: Various from 1961 - 1964

  DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:
Distribution Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC
Time: 1:28:12 + 1:30:09 + 1:28:42
Bitrate: Side 1 - the Return of Dr. Mabuse
Bitrate: Side 2 - The Invisible Dr. Mabuse + the Invisible Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
Audio English DUBs
Subtitles None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Image Entertainment

Aspect Ratio:
All - 1.33 

Edition Details:

• none

DVD Release Date: January 9th, 2007
Keep Cases
Chapters: 12 X 3

 

 

Comments:

No reviewer worth his salt could recommend this DVD collection. It has...

1) Poor interlaced transfers (minimal bitrate) split on 2 sides of one DVD10 (two sides - single layer)

2) I believe some are zoomed or cropped from an original 1.66:1 aspect ratio

3) Horrendous, out of sync, English DUBs (no original German)

4) No extras

5) No optional subtitles

6) One single menu per side

7) Weakly produced sub-par films attempting to capitalize on the "Dr. Mabuse" name 

Okay, that is the bad - the good is that I was kind of getting into these films a bit as per my personal penchant for 'bad cinema'. I can at least see how Mabuse fans might get a kick out of them - I don't know why but I was reminded of the Doc Savage genre of adolescent adventure tales. Each entry into the series seem to get worse and worse - giving them their own kind of... nostalgic charisma. Another positive is that Image Entertainment aren't giving this some form of elite price listing and it ends up being quite reasonable for three films. Plus the interlacing shouldn't be an issue watching through CRT's (TV tubes).

Certainly not for everyone but if you might be keen - you won't be gambling too much with a purchase. At least now you are aware of the lackluster quality that these have been brought to DVD.     

Gary W. Tooze

 

 

DVD Menus

 

Screen Captures

 

The Return of Dr. Mabuse
Stars Gert Fröbe, Lex Barker, Daliah Lavi, Fausto Tozzi, Werner Peters

 

NOTE Interlaced sample

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen Captures

 

The Invisible Dr. Mabuse
Stars Lex Barker, Karin Dor, Siegfried Lowitz, Rudolf Fernau, Wolfgang Preiss

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screen Captures

 

The Secret of Dr. Mabuse aka The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse
Stars Peter van Eyck, O.E. Hasse, Yvonne Furneaux, Rika Dialina, Wolfgang Preiss

 

 

 

 

 

 

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:
Distribution Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC




 

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Gary Tooze

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