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In early 1933, Fritz Lang, the visionary director behind Metropolis and M, decided to troll
the Nazis... hard. And who could blame him? He was a cocky guy and with good reason…
he was Fritz motherfuckin’ Lang, one of the most famous directors of all time. What
was the reaction? Well, let’s start at the beginning…
So there is this Fritz Lang movie called The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. It’s a talkie,
but it is a sequel to the silent film Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
follows a hypnotist and criminal mastermind who went mad ten years prior. He is now in
an insane asylum where he writes out his plans for crimes. It is discovered that there is
a gang committing the same crimes Mabuse has been writing about. The film begins with a
detective named Hofmeister who nearly uncovers Mabuse’s conspiracy before going insane
and being institutionalized at the very same asylum Mabuse is imprisoned in. When the police
inspector, Karl Lohmann finds evidence linking the crimes to Mabuse, he goes to question
Mabuse where he learns that he has died. The head of the asylum, Professor Baum, studies
Mabuse’s writings and is eventually visited by Mabuse’s ghost. Mabuse’s ghost merges
with Baum and he goes on to plan various crimes with Mabuse’s gang. Mabuse’s ghost leads
Professor Baum to Hofmeister’s cell in the asylum where Baum attempts to murder him before
being foiled. The film ends with Professor Baum, now insane and imprisoned in his own
asylum, and we see him ripping apart Mabuse’s writings.
Hello, my name is Tyler and this is TCM— Tyler Classic Movies. You’ve just watched
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse by Fritz Lang. A shocking tale of madness and mischief.
So what did you think?
Me?
Yeah, you.
It was... interesting.
Interesting, sure, but did you know that this film really managed to get under the skin
of a certain up-and-coming group in Germany?
What group?
Oh, a little group called…
the Nazis.
The film was was in post-production in 1933— just as the Nazi Party was rising to power
in Germany. And in the scene where Mabuse’s ghost appears to Professor Baum, Lang had
the evil Mabuse say all of the Nazi slogans.
Because the ultimate purpose of crime
is to establish the endless empire of crime.
A state of complete insecurity and anarchy,
founded upon the tainted ideals
of a world doomed to annihilation.
What’s interesting is that this is actually the first time we actually hear Mabuse speak
as the previous film was silent.
Despite this scene criticizing the Nazi party, the actor who played Mabuse ended up becoming
a member of the Nazi party himself and [quote] “an eager follower of Hitler" (Commentary). The actor
who played the professor rejected Nazism and moved to America (Commentary). Nevertheless,
the Nazi’s were not going to be too happy about this scene. Two yellow-shirts came to
Lang and told him that Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels will confiscate the film.
“I was very haughty and said, ‘If you think you can confiscate a film of Fritz Lang in Berlin…
do it.’
Alright, they did it."
The problem was that company that funded the film was going to lose a lot of money if the
film wasn’t released and that would likely affect Lang’s ability to make more films.
Lang was hot shit at this point and he thought that if he could just talk to Goebbels, he
could get him to lift the ban. But could he do it?
Lang said, "I have to admit that up to two or three years before the Nazis came I was
very apolitical; I was not very much interested and then I became very much interested. I
think the London Times wrote about the fact that I used this film as a political weapon
against the Nazis—I put Nazi slogans into the mouth of the criminal” (cinephiliabeyond).
Well, one day at the beginning of March in 1933, Fritz Lang received an invitation to
meet with Goebbels at the Ministry of Propaganda-- presumably to talk about his film. “Invitation”
was putting it lightly— this was an order. When he arrived, he was ‘greeted’ by
four yellow-shirts with guns yelling,
“What do you want!?”
He showed them his [quote/unquote] “invitation” and they sent him down this looooooong corridor
with the floor covered in huge marble squares where each of Lang’s footsteps echoed against
the completely blank walls and high windows— barred and too high to see out. He reached
another desk and four more yellow-shirts sent him down another corridor. This happened three
times until he finally came upon a round room with several doors.
Suddenly a door opened and out came polite man saying,
“Mr. Lang, one moment. The Minister will be ready in a second.”
After a minute or so Lang was invited into a humongous room where Goebbels sat behind
a desk very far away.
Lang said that Goebbels could turn on friendliness like a faucet.
He came toward Lang with outstretched hands,
“Mr. Lang, I’m very very happy to see you. Here come sit down.”
Goebbels talked for a while and then said,
“The Fuhrer has seen your films and the Fuhrer said: ‘This is the man who will make
THE national socialist film.”
Lang began to sweat. Goebbels said, that under his guidance, Lang will become the leader
of all German film. At this point, Lang knew the severity of the situation— he wasn’t
just visiting the lion’s den, he was being asked to be a part of it. He reminded Goebbels
that he himself was not part of the Arayan race because his mother, while Catholic, was
born to Jewish parents. Goebbels smiled and replied,
“Mr. Lang, we decide who is an Arayan.”
Woah woah woah, wait a second. Are we saying that Lang told Goebbels….
This Goebbels?…
that Goebbels...
that he’s half-jewish and Goebbels was like, ‘oh yeah, that’s fine.’
Yes.
And Goebbels didn’t care that Lang just had an insane character that looks like this
saying the Nazi slogans?
Shhhhh. I’m getting to that. Can I?
Wait, let me just show one thing.
Okay. Proceed.
So, Lang knew that he had to get out of there, get his money from the bank, and flee to Paris.
Outside the window, Lang could see a large three-sided clock and as Goebbels rambled
on about potential actors and actresses, Lang could see the time ticking closer and closer
to the moment that the banks would close.
Lang told Goebbels,
“Yeah, that sounds totally great. I will totally be the leader of German film.”
Then Goebbels brought up The Last Will and Testament of Dr. Mabuse. He said,
“Look, there’s a scene were the professor who runs the insane asylum in which Mabuse
died, is driving home. And suddenly, near him appears Mabuse and tells him certain things.
That’s not good. The professor has to be killed by the rage of the audience.”
Lang said,
“Oh yeah, totally, that makes perfect sense.”
But in his mind, he thought it "stank to high heaven." Goebbels told him that he would
call him in a day or so and to wait for him and Lang left.
When Lang got home, he told his servant Hans to pack his bag with everything he needed
for a month because he didn’t think he was going to find a job in Germany anytime soon.
(Wink wink)
Luckily Lang already had a passport from working in France and England quite a bit.
Wait, so the banks were closed, right? How did Lang afford to travel out of Germany?
Lang had been collecting these Japanese miniature sculptures called Netsuke, so he always had
five, one-thousand Reichmark bills on hand just in case, which is about $26,000 today.
But as he slipped the bills into his pocket he noticed, out the window, about 200 yellow-shirts
gathering outside his house.
The jig was up. Or was it?
As Lang stepped outside, not a single one batted an eye. As it turns out, the yellow-shirts
were just preparing for a scheduled night maneuver—like an exercise. Lang sent Hans
with some money to go and buy a train ticket and then went to his wife's house.
Her name was Thea von Harbou and she was a screenwriter and frequent collaborator on
her husband’s films. I should also add that she was a member of the Nazi party, and her
first husband was Rudolf Klein-Rogge, the actor who played Dr. Mabuse and C. A. Rotwang
in Metropolis (Commentary). She gave Lang some jewelry to smuggle out of Germany and
stayed behind.
On the train, Lang wrapped up the jewelry in tape and hid it behind the toilet in a
vacant train car next to his and hid the five thousand marks in the dining car’s complaint
book, but on the way to Paris, there was a stop in Erbesthal before Belgium for about
an hour. Usually the railroad people come around and inspect your luggage, but this
time it was a group of yellow-shirts. The yellow-shirts started at the end and one by
one, banged on the door of each compartment yelling,
“Open up! Pass control.”
When they finally got to the compartment next to Lang's, he was lying on his bed and he
recalled a direction he had given to actors on his movie sets:
“If you want to give a good act, try really to do what you are playing.”
So, he began to snore.
But instead of banging on his door, they just moved past it. Lang was sure that they were
just waiting for the time when the train was about to leave and then they would bust in
and arrest him, but no one came. He arrived in Paris with his money and the jewelry and
lived there for some time before ultimately continuing his career in the United States.
But he never understood why they skipped his door.
It’s a harrowing story— like something out of a movie and after all, Fritz Lang
is one of cinema’s greatest story-tellers.
Was it true?
There is some information that has come to light that seems to go against this story.
But why would Fritz Lang lie about escaping the Nazis?
Tune in next time to find out!
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