The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Chased by criminals, disgraced detective Hofmeister hides inside a crowded print shop and calls his former superior. He frantically claims to have uncovered a vast criminal conspiracy. The encounter ends as danger closes in, suggesting the mastermind watches from the shadows.

The lights plunge the room into darkness and gunfire erupts. Hofmeister succumbs to a wave of madness and vanishes from the chaos. The incident marks the start of a sprawling conspiracy that will test the investigators.

Hofmeister is found singing whenever he feels watched and is committed to an asylum run by Professor Baum. The strange behavior hints at a mind fractured by fear and scrutiny. His confinement will later tie into Mabuse's legacy.

Professor Baum explains Dr Mabuse as a criminal mastermind and hypnotist who went mad years earlier. Mabuse drafts detailed crime plans that a criminal network carries out as if following the Doctor's dictates. The dialogue frames Mabuse as both genius and menace.

Baum's colleague Dr Kramm discovers that recent crimes mimic Mabuse's writings. Before he can report, Hardy and Bredow's gang shoots him down. The case darkens as Mabuse's influence spreads through the underworld.

A clue scratched into a glass window pane at Hofmeister's crime scene catches Lohmann's attention. He begins connecting Mabuse to the asylum, the writings, and the ongoing crimes. The detective pieces together a larger conspiracy.

When Lohmann arrives at the asylum, Baum declares that Mabuse has died. Yet Baum insists Mabuse the genius continues to shape events. The line between blame and genius becomes blurred.

Baum continues to study Mabuse's writings and communes with the ghost of Dr Mabuse. The spirit speaks of an unlimited reign of crime and merges with Baum's silhouette. A hidden figure coordinates crimes including a chemical plant attack, a bank robbery, counterfeiting, poisoning water, and destroying harvests.

Thomas Kent wrestles with his criminal duties while his affection for Lilli grows. The couple decides to inform the police, but they are abducted and locked in a curtained meeting room with a time bomb. They flood the room and break free as the bomb explodes.

The police besiege a flat where gangsters hide; Hardy commits suicide and the others surrender. Bredow testifies they killed Kramm near the asylum, and Lohmann arranges a confrontation with the Professor, though the outcome remains inconclusive. The investigation tightens around Mabuse's legacy.

Lohmann and Kent visit the asylum and realize Baum is the mastermind behind Mabuse's schemes. He has a plan to strike a chemical plant that night, escalating the threat to the city. The pursuit to stop him heats up as the clock ticks.

The Mabuse spirit guides Baum toward Hofmeister in his cell, and Baum declares himself Mabuse to the astonished prisoner. He attempts to kill Hofmeister, but guards intervene just as Lohmann and Kent close in. The confrontation seals Mabuse's presence in the living world.

In the final scene, the insane Baum sits in his cell and tears Mabuse's writings to shreds. The film closes on a note that Mabuse's influence lingers in fragments of paper and memory. Lohmann and Kent observe the ruined ambitions of the criminal mastermind.