M (1931)

Posted on by womo



Director: Fritz Lang
Writers: Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang
Release Date: August 31, 1931
Genre: Crime Thriller

Synopsis
This thrilling drama of crime, pursuit, and vengeance has got to be on anyone’s list of all-time greats. A psychotic murderer of little girls terrorizes, and enrages, a large German city. Although the police conduct a thorough investigation, they remain baffled. But their search so disrupts the city’s underworld that the criminals decide to hunt him down themselves. More efficient — and fascistically brutal –than the establishment, and aided by a network of colorful beggars, they catch the murderer (“M”). During the subsequent mock trial, their fierce thirst for revenge bursts forth, leading to an exciting climax. Aside from being an engrossing manhunt melodrama, the film is a fascinating semi-documentary on scientific deduction methods, and astute study of schizophrenic mind, a thoughtful meditation on justice and capital punishment, and a downright chilling reflection of German society’s confusions, anxieties, and violent tendencies on the eve of the Hitler era. Add to these Fritz Lang’s customary excellence at expressionistic camerawork, lighting, and symbolism, creating a claustrophobic nightmare from which the killer, his victims, and audience can’t escape. Watch for the dizzying high angles and geometric spaces that turn the streets into terrifying mazes; or the shot in which “M,” framed by a circle of knives in a cutlery shop’s window, suddenly seems trapped by his own weapons of destruction. Peter Lorre manages to make the fat, bug-eyed little psychopath both frightening and pathetic; his half-whimpered, half-screamed plea for mercy turns the character into a tragic victim of uncontrollable instincts. And Lang turns his first attempt at the new sound medium into a tour de force, using dialogue and sound effects to bridge locations and scenes, and orchestrating ingenious sound-picture counterpoints. A mother’s desperate cries for her missing daughter reverberate off screen while we see unforgettably poignant images of the child’s ball rolling down a hill, and her balloon entangled in telegraph wires — a violent death made horrifying not by gory special effects buy by our imagination. “M” ultimately gives himself away by haunting Grieg melody he compulsively whistles before killing; just hearing that tune is enough to turn our blood instantly cold. A masterpiece of visual and aural expressiveness — and an absolutely first-rate suspense drama! In German with English subtitles. 99 minutes.

Cast
Peter Lorre …….. Hans Beckert
Ellen Widmann …… Frau Beckmann
Inge Landgut ……. Elsie Beckmann
Otto Wernicke …… Inspector Karl Lohmann
Theodor Loos ……. Inspector Groeber

Brought to you by: http://www.bloodyrare.com

source

38 Replies to “M (1931)”

  1. Very good movie. Albeit, I must say that the translation is not 100% accurate. Some words were changed in the translation or just left out.

    Edit: OK, I have to amend my statement. There are far more translation errors than I had thought. For example, at 16:05 the subtitles say :"Minister, my men are only getting 12 hours sleep a week." This is what he says in German: "Herr Minister, meine Leute haben in der Woche keine 12 Stunden schlaf mehr." This means that his men actually have LESS than 12 hours sleep a week. The word "keine" in conjunction with the word "mehr" means translated to English "no more".

    I know that this sound nitpicky, but the whole meaning is lost by this translation. There are even more instances where this is the case.

  2. i wish i coul've been born at the time movies were this great & with actors that i've never heard about, but wished i had, Peter Lorre for example & Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney etc. but i had to be born in 92 & not having a nostalgic family that knows about Movies & actors such as this one.

  11. this movie haunts me in a way how peter lorre looks like a child murderer before their was ever a serial killer move…..fritz lang is one of the greats..and one of the best movies i have ever seen….i love the trial.

  12. Did Ayn Rand have anything to do with this? The booklet that comes with Metropolis  says that she co-wrote 'M' with Fritz Lang, but she doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere else in relation to it.

  14. Such a brilliant and haunting film. Masterful use of lighting.
    I also really enjoy Metropolis and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (two more great films by Fritz Lang).

  17. still the scariest depiction of a murderer ever filmedwatch his face in the trial transform to a monster wit no special efects at all and then to a small scared man…genius

  21. German actor Gustav Grundgrens ["Shrank'] eventually supported Hitler & his Nazis & ended up as a prominent actor [can see him in Nazi German movies like the "The Life of Frederick the Great" 1941, by Veit Harlan, the same who produced the anti Semite classic "Jud Suss"], & his voice in documentaries like the "Deutsche Wochau" newsreels produced by Joseph Goebbels.

  22. I saw this film many years ago I must have been around 12 I was amazed by how the street people banned together to stop this maniac . The killer gave a long speech about he was compel with no choice!

  25. Flawless movie from 1931, and decades ahead of its' time. The 1950s remake ironically
    has dated very badly, however this is truly an study in icy brilliance with Peter Lorre in magnificent form as the pitiful child killer.
    Hitchcock must have been surely taking notes, when he heard about the works of Fritz
    Lang.

    Thanks for posting it.

  27. Important to note that this was only Peter Lorre's 2nd film !! A masterpiece of disturbing cinema. Scariest line: Beckert "Who knows what it's like to be like me?"
    And this could never be made today – not without a stream of protests from just about every PC lobby (which of course is the whole point of making such movies)

  28. This film portrays so many things that remain relevant today.

    1) Eye witness testimony is often faulty

    2) It's not easy to catch a criminal, especially when you have to consider other peoples' rights. The police in this film are using all available resources and devoting all their time in solving this case, and they're still turning up with nothing. Scraping the barrel for clues, late nights at the office, interviews with people who don't know what they're talking about, all makes for little headway.

    3) Widely publicized crimes only feed into a criminal's ego

    4) Hysteria makes people suspicious, irrational, and bloodthirsty

    5) This film is probably one of the earliest examples of a culture and society regarding male strangers interacting with children as suspicious, whether it's justified or not (extremely relevant today)

    6) The fine line between "Stranger Danger" and being just plain paranoid

    7) The reason a lot of criminals avoid getting caught is because they can blend in or are unassuming in appearance.

  32. Wonderfully good movie without consideration for its age. Take into account the fact that this film was made 85 years ago and it becomes a masterpiece. What fantastic, still-relevant cinema. The incredibly sparse foley work and lack of soundtrack is always somewhat jarring in films from this era, but you get over it very quickly.

  35. Fascinating to look into the culture of pre-world war 2 Germany. The paranoia and accusation when trying to find the murderer.

    "What a shame! searching a house because of an anonymous letter."
    "Calm down, we are just doing following our orders"

    Words that painfully echoed a few years later in Nuremberg.

  37. A few people criticize the movie for trying to make us sympathize with a serial killer and I think they've got it wrong. This movie is asking for understanding, not sympathy.

Leave a Reply