Eureka Entertainment Tabs Apr. 1 For The Release Of The Six-Film Blu-ray Collection Titled Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964

UK-based Eureka Entertainment, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has locked into Apr. 1 for the debut of the four-disc, six-film Blu-ray collection titled Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964.

In 1921 Norbert Jacques introduced Dr. Mabuse, a “super villain” in his novel, “Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler,” to the literary world.   None other than Fritz Lang would bring Jacques’ character to the screen the same year in the two-part epic silent film, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge.    Lang would also direct the first sound film about Jacques’ character, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse in 1933 (also starring Klein-Rogge) … and that would be it for nearly three decades.

In post-war Germany, Polish-born Jewish survivor Artur Brauner formed Central Cinema Compagnie-Film (CCC for short) with the intent of making movies about the horrors of the Nazis in Germany, but soon found that there was little demand for such “entertainment” (commercially-speaking).   So he turned his focus elsewhere.

By 1960 CCC had become successful and so Brauner had the idea of teaming up with “exile” filmmaker Fritz Lang to make yet another Dr. Mabuse film.   It is this series of CCC-produced films that Eureka Entertainment has assembled.

The six films that CCC produced began with The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, with Wolfgang Priess starring as Mabuse, in 1960 … Lang directed.   Both director and star would re-team the following year for The Return of Doctor Mabuse. 

Priess would do four additional films … The Invisible Dr. Mabuse (1962), The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (aka: The Terror of Doctor Mabuse) (also 1962), Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963) and the series would wrap up with The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse in 1964 (using archived footage of Priess as Mabuse).

Eureka gives fans both the original German language versions, as well English-dubbed for all six films.

Of note, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse was released in the domestic market in 1960 in German, with English subtitles and re-released in 1966 theatrically as an English-dubbed version.

The Return of Doctor Mabuse also arrived in 1966 as an English-dubbed theatrical release.   
The third film in the series was released both in 1965 and again in 1966 as English-dubbed theatrical releases in the domestic market — The Invisible Dr. Mabuse and The Invisible Horror respectively.

The same pattern was followed for The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1965) and retitled as The Terror of Doctor Mabuse in 1966.

The last two films in the series skipped a theatrical run and were issued as English-dubbed television films.

Bonus features for Eureka Entertainment’s Mabuse Lives! Dr. Mabuse at CCC: 1960-1964 include commentaries for all six films, a 2002 video session with Preiss and two featurettes — “Mabuse Lives at CCC” and “Kriminology.”