A decade after the success of ''[[Film/DrMabuseTheGambler Dr. Mabuse, Der Spieler]]'', Fritz Lang decided to revisit the character in the sound era, with a plot appropriately based on the eeriness of recorded sound.

In the film, it is ten years or so since the criminal empire of DiabolicalMastermind Dr. Mabuse was crushed by the authorities, and the evil doctor, driven insane by his fall, confined to a mental hospital. Suddenly, the catatonic Mabuse has reawakened and begun to obsessively scribble notes on hypothetical crimes. Which would only be of academic interest, if it weren't for the new criminal gang that seems to be putting those plans into practice.

(It should be noted that this film has a major case of ItWasHisSled. To avoid the trope examples below being a block of spoiler code, the famous twist in question has not been whited out. If you really want to see the film unspoiled, don't read any further.)

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!!This film provides examples of the following tropes:

* BondVillainStupidity: Kent and Lilli being given three hours to anticipate their deaths.
* CanonWelding: This film pits Dr. Mabuse against Komissar Lohmann from ''{{Film/M}}''.
* TheChessmaster: Mabuse
* CigarChomper: Lohmann
* DevilInPlainSight: Baum is vocal about his admiration for Mabuse even before he starts going seriously round the bend.
* DiabolicalMastermind: Guess who?
* DrivenToMadness: Hofmeister. Also Baum.
* DrivenToSuicide: A number are reported to have happened off-screen.
* ForTheEvulz: Mabuse's motivations in this film are purely to create chaos and a Hobbesian-nightmare "Empire of Crime". Lampshaded in scenes where some of his minions discuss their bemusement at why they're being paid to commit crimes that don't actually seem to make any money.
* GrandTheftMe: One possible interpretation of the film is that Mabuse succeeds in doing this on Baum with his psychic powers.
* HypnoticEyes: Mabuse still has them.
* ManipulativeBastard: Mabuse, again. 
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Whether Baum was simply mad, or whether Mabuse actually did manage to do a GrandTheftMe on him.
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Mabuse and Baum.
* MyBrainIsBig: Baum's visions of the dead Mabuse show him like this with a huge exposed brain. (According to WordOfGod, this was intended to be Baum seeing Mabuse as he last saw him, while he was dissecting Mabuse's brain on the autopsy table.)
* NapoleonDelusion: Baum fully believes by the end that he '''is''' Dr. Mabuse.
* NothingIsScarier: We never find out exactly what Hardy and Bredow did to Hofmeister to drive him mad.
* PosthumousCharacter: Mabuse, for the second half of the film.
* PsychoPsychologist: Mabuse's past as a psychanalyst is referred to, and his psychiatrist Baum initially starts committing crimes in admiration for him and finally becomes deludedly convinced that he '''is''' Mabuse.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Komissar Lohmann.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Hardy and Bredow are an early example, although they aren't as chatty as later examples would become.
* VillainousBreakdown: Baum is essentially having one throughout the film.
* VillainProtagonist
* TheVoice: The "chief". Almost a pre-internet example of VoiceWithAnInternetConnection.
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