Doctor Mabuse is a fictional character created by Norbert Jacques, made famous by the three films Austrian director Fritz Lang made about him over a period of almost 40 years. Although the character was designed to deliberately mimic pulp-style villains in the mold of Dr. Fu Manchu and Fantômas, the latter of which was a direct inspiration, Jacques' aim was both to capture the commercial success of such pulp tales and to make political comment on...
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Doctor Mabuse is a fictional character created by Norbert Jacques, made famous by the three films Austrian director Fritz Lang made about him over a period of almost 40 years. Although the character was designed to deliberately mimic pulp-style villains in the mold of Dr. Fu Manchu and Fantômas, the latter of which was a direct inspiration, Jacques' aim was both to capture the commercial success of such pulp tales and to make political comment on the establishment of the day, in much the same way that the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) had done just a few years previously.
As befits his pulp influences, Dr. Mabuse is a master of disguise like Fantômas and a master of telepathic hypnosis, not unlike the hypnotist Dr. Caligari. Like Fu Manchu, Mabuse commits very few of his crimes in person, instead operating primarily through a network of agents acting out schemes he has laid down for them. Mabuse's agents range from career criminals following him for money, to...
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