Der Zwielicht-helden
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Dr. Mabuse
by Norbert Jacques |
BiographyDr. Mabuse is a master of disguise and a master of telepathic hypnosis. Mabuse commits very few of his crimes in person, instead operating primarily through a network of agents. Mabuse's agents range from career criminals following him for money, to innocents blackmailed or hypnotized into cooperation, to dupes so successfully manipulated that they do not realize that they are doing. Mabuse's identity often changes; one "Dr. Mabuse" may be defeated and sent to an asylum, jail, or grave, only for a new "Dr. Mabuse" to later appear. The replacement invariably has the same methods, the same powers of hypnosis, and the same criminal genius. There are even suggestions that the "real" Mabuse is some sort of spirit that possesses host after host. |
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Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (movie) by Robert Wiene, Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer |
Biography[Ignoring the "twist" of this movie] Dr. Caligari works in a traveling fair where he presents a show of a hypnotized sleepwalker named Cesare who can tell the future. Caligari is also commanding the sleepwalker to carry out a number of murders. A visitor to the fair investigates Caligari, discovers his crimes and chases Caligari into an insane asylum where it turns out Caligari is the director who has himself gone mad. Dr. Caligari is captured and incarcerated in his own institution. |
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Cesare“...including a mesmerised assassin...”
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (movie) by Robert Wiene, Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer |
Biography[Ignoring the "twist" of this movie] The somnambulist Cesare is forced to carry out the demented whims of his master, Doctor Caligari. Indeed, Cesare's domination is so total that he is almost never shown moving of his own volition, free of the will of his master Caligari. |
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Dr. C.A. Rotwang
Metropolis (movie) by Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang |
BiographyA brilliant inventor, whose greatest achievement is a robot in the form of a woman. He intended the robot to be a replacement for his wife, Hel, who left him for the now mayor of the city, Joh Frederson, and who died while giving birth to Frederson's son, Freder. Rotwang then uses the robot to get revenge against Frederson and Freder, while pretending that he is using the robot for the Joh Frederson's benefit. |
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Maria
Metropolis (movie) by Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang |
BiographyThe robot, Maria, was created by Rotwang, but it was at the insistence of Joh Frederson, Master of Metropolis that she was created to be the direct likeness of Maria, one of the worker's daughters. Joh's son Feder was in love with Maria - which didn't sit too well with Joh. |
