during the early years of sound films before dubbing and subtitling, one way to present a film to a foreign audience was to record the film with a translated screenplay with foreign-language cast. as this was a time consuming and expensive procedure, most filmmakers who did this tended to only make one alternative language feature. producer seymour nebenzal felt that creating this alternative version would enhance international sales for "the testament of dr. mabuse". the french-language screenplay was adapted by rené sti. lang was fluent in french and directed "the testament of dr. mabuse" in both french and german. actor karl meixner played hofmeister in both versions of the film as he was bilingual. rudolf klein-rogge also features as mabuse in the french version with his lines being dubbed. the french version, titled "le testament du dr. mabuse", was edited by lothar wolff in france while the film was still in production.