The Return of Dr Mabuse [Im Stahlnetz des Dr Mabuse] *** (1961, Gert Fröbe, Daliah Lavi, Lex Barker, Wolfgang Preiss) – Classic Movie Review 6942

Director Harald Reinl’s 1961 black-and-white crime thriller The Return of Dr Mabuse [Im Stahlnetz des Dr Mabuse], made in West Berlin, follows Fritz Lang’s The 1,000 Eyes of Dr Mabuse [Die 1000 Augen des Dr Mabuse] (1960) as the second of the Sixties CCC Films Dr Mabuse series.

The Return of Dr Mabuse stars Gert Fröbe as Kommissar [Inspector] Lohmann, Daliah Lavi as Maria Sabre, Lex Barker in his first German film as FBI agent Joe Como alas Nick Scappio and Wolfgang Preiss as evil criminal mastermind Dr Mabuse. It is co-written by Ladislas Fodor and in his first screenplay by Marc Behm, who gives the film a sci-fi plot that was followed in later films in the series. It is followed by The Invisible Dr Mabuse (1962) also with Barker and directed by Reinl.

It starts when Inspector Lohmann is called to investigate the murder of an Interpol courier carrying proof of the Chicago Mob’s planned co-operation with a European criminal organisation.

The Return of Dr Mabuse [Im Stahlnetz des Dr Mabuse] was belatedly released in the United States as The Phantom Fiend after Fröbe’s rise to international fame as Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger.

Also in the cast are Fausto Tozzi as Warden Wolf, Werner Peters as Böhmler, Rudolf Forster as Professor Julius Sabre, Rudolf Fernau as Pastor Briefenstein, Joachim Mock as Detective Voss, Laura Solari as Mrs Pizarro, Ady Berber as Alberto Sandro, Henry Coubet as Blinder, Jean-Roger Caussimon as Küster, Albert Bessler as Trödler and Lou Seitz Mrs Lohmann.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6942

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