In this episode of Fascism on Film, we examine Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse—the first film banned by the Nazis. It’s a prophetic thriller, made in 1932 and set for release in early 1933, it was suppressed by Joseph Goebbels, who feared its depiction of chaos, hypnosis, and control might undermine the methods of the new regime.

We discuss how Lang’s story of a criminal mastermind directing an “empire of crime” from within an asylum becomes an allegory for fascism’s viral power—an ideology that outlives its leader and spreads like possession. As Teal notes in our discussion, “Mabuse dies in the film, and yet the ideology continues to exist … it’s a question about whether fascism can survive without the charismatic leader”.

James draws attention to Lang’s mastery of sound, the “ticking of bombs and clocks” that turn tension into metaphor, and the film’s eerie image of a “man behind the curtain” giving orders to followers who never see his face. We connect this to the way Goebbels used radio to project Hitler’s voice to millions who never saw him in person—a medium of hypnotic command that made belief effortless.

Finally, we trace the line from Lang’s Germany to our own time. When we compare Mabuse’s disembodied authority to the anonymous voice of QAnon, the parallel becomes chillingly clear: “You give your reasoning faculties over to insanity,” Teal says, “and it becomes an all-consuming belief system”.

What Lang called “an allegory to show Hitler’s processes of terrorism” still resonates. His film warns that tyranny begins not with armies, but with ideas that promise order through fear—and voices that command obedience from behind the curtain.