according to siegfried kracauer, lang deliberately intended the film to suggest the mabuse-like qualities of adolf hitler, who was on his rise to become chancellor of germany while the film was being written. when hitler came to power, joseph goebbels became minister of propaganda and banned the film in germany, suggesting that the film would undermine the audience's confidence in its statesmen. the french-language and german-language versions of the film were released in europe while several versions of the film were released in the united states to mixed reception with each re-release. the sequel "the thousand eyes of dr. mabuse" (1960) was also directed by lang. modern reception of the film is favorable with critics, while the film has influenced filmmakers including claude chabrol and artur brauner.