Doctor Mabuse is a criminal mastermind, doctor of psychology, and master of disguise, armed with the powers of hypnosis and mind control, who oversees the counterfeiting and gambling rackets of the Berlin underworld. He visits gambling dens by night under various guises and aliases, using the power of suggestion to win at cards and finance his plans.

Mabuse zuří, když mine cíl. Mabuse se tetelí rozkoší, když cítí nadcházející triumf. Mabuse je génius zločinu a zároveň prostý smrtelník ovládaný vlnami vášně. Narozdíl od svých předchůdců upíra Nosferata nebo Caligariho je to postava z masa a kostí. Fritz Lang navazující na rané expresionistické opusy se obrací k současnému životu, který v poválečném Německu znamenal vlnu hospodářských nepokojů. Jedním z těch, kdo využívá nadcházející bídy, je právě Mabuse lavírující mezi podsvětím a smetánkou.

As the police intensify their bemusing search on Doctor Mabuse's notorious band of gangsters, the deceptive, elusive hypnotist Mabuse simultaneously begins to close in on himself.

Šílený zločinec doktor Mabuse žije na klinice pro léčbu duševních chorob, kterou vede profesor Baum. Tento lékař se stane Mabusovým přisluhovačem a bez omluvy plní jeho příkazy psané na lístcích papíru. Mabuse zemře, ale zločiny pokračují, neboť Baum věří v reinkarnaci a považuje sám sebe za nově vtěleného doktora Mabuseho. Když ho policie pod vedením kriminálního komisaře Lohmanna konečně vypátrá, nejde duševně chorého zločince v cele zemřelého doktora Mabuseho.

A reporter is murdered while driving to his job. The Police are contacted by a clairvoyant who saw the death in a vision, but some dark force is preventing him from seeing the man behind the crime...

The supposedly dead and buried Mabuse returns to his criminal activities, as his longtime foe Police Inspector Lohmann, a dauntless girl reporter, and an American - who may be an FBI agent, or maybe a Chicago mobster - investigate a series of gruesome murders connected to a maximum security prison and involving a minister who has written a book called "The Anatomy Of The Devil".

Strange things happen in a revue theatre. The dancer Maria seems to be hunted by an invisible admirer. When the body of a probable FBI agent is found in a trunk the police asks FBI man Joe Como for help. Como gets interested in the revue theatre and an ominous transport firm soon. When he is receiving mysterious threatening letters he is sure that Dr. Mabuse has risen again. But what is going on at "Enterprise X" so that both the goverment and the mad genius in crime are interested in it?

Dr. Mabuse has been locked away for years in an insane asylum. Suddenly crimes start occurring and no one knows the culprit. A detective goes to visit the Doctor to find some sort of clues to the robberies.

The spirit of the evil Dr. Mabuse takes over the body of a famous professor. The professor/Dr. Mabuse then begins a new crime wave that terrorizes the city.

The evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.