M

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  August 29, 2009

  columbiatch

  This isn't really my type of film. Technically it's very well done, a very detailed police procedural with some interesting use of sound. The acting was pretty bad for most of the cast. I would have enjoyed it a lot more a couple of years ago but just feel indifferent to it now.

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  July 12, 2009

  76Majikat

  Another disappointment! I seem to be on a run recently of overrated films. The film of course isn?t all bad, I like the actual storyline and it?s bravery of using a child killer in it?s time, the beginning was good and so was the end, but slumped far too much in the middle.
  
  ...( read more)I can see why it?s a popular choice with people, but found parts far too boring.

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  May 18, 2009

  DrBenway

  Such a fantastic movie and one of my top favorites. Peter Lorre, all popping eyes, baby face and chubby little hands, is repulsively fascinating as the twisted, pathetic psychopath, dropping hints about the erotic nature of his fixation. The 1931 film directed by Fritz Lang is ...( read more)about more than law and order. It blurs the definitions of both and questions whether the law can keep us truly safe in the context of the rising Nazi party. The elaborate steps through which good guys and bad guys (you are left to decide which is which) must keep watch for the man who has already killed 8 children are very engaging.
  
  M is essential viewing for those interested in the early development of sound. Long before the sophisticated soundscapes so popular in the mainstream, Lang discovered that a movie's atmosphere could be achieved by subtleties, and few films since have achieved the blending of sound and image to this degree. It's also Lang's first "talkie" feature and complete without score. No music, which adds to the dark, gritty atmosphere falling right in between the German Expressionistic Era and Noir Along the lines of technical achievement, M stands as the blueprint for forensics displayed in feature films and television to this day. Only time will tell if Silence Of The Lambs will be as strong of a film when it's 78 years old.
  

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  February 3, 2009

  flixsterman

  As a child of the 60's, I grew up knowing Peter Lorre as a spooky looking character actor with supporting roles in old classics like The Maltese Falcon and Arsenic and Old Lace. Although I enjoyed his performances I never fully appreciated his talent until I saw th...( read more)is 1931 Fritz Lang masterpiece. In it, Lorre plays a psychotic child murderer stalking a German city. Lorre's approach to the character is unusual in the sense that he himself is tormented by the unspeakable acts he commits. There is a tangible emanation of right and wrong, of good versus evil, that Lorre projects. I found myself fascinatingly disgusted (or disgustingly fascinated) by my empathy for his character.
  
  

  

  Peter Lorre - M

  
  
  There are a handful of examples of so-called "character actors" who have had that one shining moment in a lead role and then, strangely, returned to bit parts and supporting performances. For Ray Milland it was The Lost Weekend, for Ernest Borgnine it was Marty, and for Peter Lorre it was most definitely M.

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  December 4, 2008

  EarthlyAlien

  WARNING: this review will contain a study of the film's plot. Try not to read it if you haven't seen it.
  
  "There are more police on the street tonight than whores."
  
  M is no doubt the most critical film made by the "Master of Darkness" Fritz Lang. Tho...( read more)ugh cinema enthusiasts have acknowledged Lang's previous film, the Sci-Fi masterpiece Metropolis as the film that was far too many years ahead of its time, M stands on its own terms as the film that pushed the boundaries of time even further. It is mind-gobblingly astounding to think even today that an idea like M was conceived in the year 1931, when films with sound were only four years old.
  
  
  
  It's a film that not only impressed audiences, it changed the way films were made and paved the way for many of the principles of modern cinema. For instance, M was the film where the concept of "Leitmotif" was introduced in films' scores. Leitmotif (for those who are unfamiliar) is a term used to define a recurring musical theme that is associated with a certain person or instance during the course of the film. Another important factor that M inspired is the use of traditional German Expressionist cinematography combined with realistic set design (which was uncommon to prior Expressionist cinema). Although M was released towards the twilight of Kammerspiel, it still remains a significant work of Expressionist cinema. It is widely regarded as the first of the films to inspire the American Film Noir movement. M was also one of the first films to use the techniques of cross-cutting between two locations, establishing shots of empty building interiors and montage sequences.
  
  Berlin 1930s, the city is dwelling in fear from the recent emergence of a mysterious serial killer. Known only as the "Child Murderer," he is accused for the disappearance and murder of several children. Mrs. Beckmann (Ellen Widmann) is eagerly awaiting the return of her daughter Elsie (Inge Landgut) from school. In the meantime, Elsie is approached by a shadowy figure of a man who befriends her and buys her a balloon toy from a blind man. He is whistling to the tune of "The Hall of the Mountain King." The face of the man is not revealed. Mrs. Beckmann begins to panic and eventually leaves to look for Elsie. Unfortunately for her, she becomes the latest victim of the Child Murderer.
  
  Following the latest strike of the murderer, the police increase the intensity of patrol all around Berlin and initiate a large-scale manhunt for the mysterious killer. Then one morning, the local newspapers receive a hand-written letter from the Child Murderer himself declaring his triumphant endeavours. Even with the aid of modern day criminology, finger-print matching and hand-writing analysis, the police are still unable to apprehend the criminal but they manage to confirm the fact that the person responsible is mentally ill. Simultaneously, the Killer is revealed to the audience to be Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre). Inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) initiates intense police raids all around the city and targets usual underworld spots. This event leads to disorientation among the citizens and a subsequent downfall in the underworld's business.
  
  It's not long before the major representative heads of the various underworld gangs gather at a secret meeting to contemplate on the current issues of police action. More than the downfall in business, they feel disgusted for the fact that the police are searching for a psychotic murderer of children among their circles. They eventually decide that they must apprehend the deadly criminal themselves and put an end to his activities before any further damage is done to their reputation and to their business. They also form an alliance with the beggars union to keep a discreet watch over the children of the city against any suspicious individuals.
  
  The race for the search of the Killer begins and the various underworld criminals scan through the city carefully examining suspicious personalities as the vast network of beggars keep a watch over the children. Temptation takes over Beckert and he lures another little girl into his web. But he makes the mistake of whistling his trademark tune as he passes by the same blind balloon salesman from Elsie's murder. The blind man instantly recognizes the tune and alerts a criminal who is keeping a watch nearby. The criminal follows Beckert and the little girl to a candy store and hides behind the trash cans. He sees that Beckert is carrying a pocket-knife and knowing he can't take him down on his own comes up with an idea. He writes the letter "M" on the palm of his hand with a white chalk and manages to imprint it onto the shoulder of the killer's coat by pretending to bump into him.
  
  The word is spread. Every member of the criminal fraternity is notified of the identification mark on the criminal's shoulder and they proceed to follow him. Beckert discovers the branding on his shoulder from the mirror on a store entrance and immediately knows he's being tailed. He panics and leaves the child to run for his own safety. He ends up on a street and is found cornered in an office complex. Just then, the employees of the offices are dismissed and as they proceed to exit the premises, Beckert uses the crowd to his advantage to escape to the topmost floor and hide in the attic.
  
  After the premises are closed, the criminals decide to take him out on their own as they storm the building complex from top to bottom in dozens. He is eventually discovered to be behind a locked door and as they plan to flush him out, one of the security guards activates the alarm and alerts the nearby police station. The criminals manage to leave the complex with the killer but one of them, Franz, is left behind, eventually to be arrested by the police. He reveals to Inspector Lohmann that they had taken Beckert to an abandoned warehouse to put him to an end.
  
  As Franz had described, the criminal mob takes Beckert to an abandoned warehouse to put him on a "kangaroo" trial. Beckert is provided with a lawyer whose statements are eventually overruled and following a tear-filled confessional monologue by Beckert, it is decided that he will be killed. Just before they're about to do the deed, the police storm in and arrest Beckert, leaving the fate of the "Child Murderer" to an ambiguous ending.
  
  The brilliance of the M lies in the execution of Fritz Lang's vision. The dark establishing shots, a mood of suspense and fear, the clear absence of a protagonist and the sheer excitement of the chase to the end are all part of what makes this film Lang's Magnum Opus. It is amazing how Lang fills the absence of a well-defined protagonist with the use of three separate segments of the society coming together in collaboration. The alliance formed between the criminals and beggars is both fascinating and impressive as an original idea. The portrayal of these usually negative characters as positive entities that keep a vigil over the city's children is simply unheard of and unbelievably fascinating even today.
  
  Another important factor contributing to the film's greatness is the standard of acting excellence set by Peter Lorre in his role as Hans Beckert. His boyish appearance and fearful eyes manage to strike terror and at the same time bring out a sense of sympathy towards the character. When you see Lorre expressing his helplessness to the "demons" that haunt him, you get a crystal clear idea of what depths of darkness his character had endured. He is simply at his best in his monologue at the Kangaroo trial, where he goes from vengeful to helpless to devilish by just the use of his facial expression. This performance is simply one of the greatest in the history of world cinema.
  
  Lorre's incredible run as Beckert is well supported by Otto Wernicke in his role as Inspector Karl Lohmann. Portraying an old, fat, determined police inspector, Wernicke delivers an assuring figure to the audience as if to say that as long as he«s on the case, the Child Murderer will not be able to get away from justice. He also provides much of the comic relief to the film.
  
  Films like M are timeless due to the fact that they were conceived from the vision of a master who aimed to inspire and not just entertain. The world Lang shot here is essentially the same one we live in today. Criminals, cops, trusting children, mothers, serial killers... they all still exist. And they probably always will. If somebody were to take all the main elements of M and reassembled it in a contemporary context, it would still thrill everyone as it did in 1931. That has to be what genius really means.
  
  "Just you wait, it won't be long. The man in black will soon be here. With his cleaver's blade so true. He'll make mincemeat out of YOU!"

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  November 5, 2009

  littlecharmer1959

  Fritz Lang is the man, this is amazing! The trial of Peter Lorre's child murder, where he pleads with the criminals that he is compelled to commit his crimes whilst they commit theirs out of choice is one of the greatest scenes in cinema.

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  November 2, 2009

  addienairzan

  The perfect cast for a perfect villain. Great concepts, plot and story. Funny, even..Such an entertaining noir..It surely add my love to the classics..

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  October 29, 2009

  UsernameMissing

  So, movie ...what do you wanna be when you grow up?Fritz Lang's M!

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  October 18, 2009

  ElCochran90

  "It's there all the time, driving me out to wander the streets, following me, silently, but I can feel it there. It's me, pursuing myself! I want to escape, to escape from myself! But it's impossible. I can't escape, I have to obey it. I have to run, run... endless streets. I ...( read more)want to escape, to get away! And I'm pursued by ghosts. Ghosts of mothers and of those children... they never leave me. They are always there... always, always, always!, except when I do it, when I... Then I can't remember anything. And afterwards I see those posters and read what I've done, and read, and read... did I do that? But I can't remember anything about it! But who will believe me? Who knows what it's like to be me? How I'm forced to act... how I must, must... don't want to, must! Don't want to, but must! And then a voice screams! I can't bear to hear it! I can't go on! I can't... I can't..."
  
  M (1931)
  
  Director: Fritz Lang
  Country: Germany
  Genre: Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller
  Length: 117 minutes
  
  
  
  Just after the extraordinary cinematographic movement denominated "German Expressionism" was originated around the year of 1919 and flourished at its maximum expression in the decade of the 20's, Europe (Germany above all) would become one of the precursors of film-noir cinema and a great influence for the United States, subgenre that includes incomparable crime films which directors would become in legends of classic cinema, such as John Huston (The Maltese Falcon [1941]), Billy Wilder (Sunset Blvd. [1950]), Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep [1946]), Alfred Hitchcock (Notorious [1946]) and even Fritz Lang himself. Fritz Lang took the most fascinating and characteristic elements of the German Expressionism, such as the chiariscuro (Italian term for the light-dark mix) technique and the predominant tenebrism that were present in various art forms such as architecture, sculpturing, painting and the theatre, and gave them a new style in one of his best and most famous and critically acclaimed films of his entire filmography: M. Film-noir is characterized by its representation of a totally corrupt society where crime is a predominant thing in each corner of the streets. It also gets rid of the typical stereotypes that belong to the "good guy" and the "bad guy" when talking about the protagonist and the antagonist. Both the main and the supporting characters are inevitably involved in the most relevant events of the story's plot, and it resorts to the flashback technique for narrating past events, clearly indicating that the most important action of the plot has already happened, offering to the spectator a present time that can no longer be fixed. Normally, each shot of the film is wonderfully created and play with the tones of light and darkness from beginning to end, especially for adding dramatic quality and for highlighting the evilness of a particular character. It also has the participation of a femme fatale, a woman who believes that she perfectly knows her ambitions and motivations but she, in fact, doesn't, a woman that tends to be seductive and that despite her inoffensive appearance, can lead her victims towards danger and even death. The truth is that M has all of the characteristics mentioned above except maybe for the use of a femme fatale inside the plot and the flashback technique, although the main character makes references to past actions that keep haunting his mind. That is why M became in the principal and most notable influence of film-noir cinema, and I dare to say that it is even better than any film-noir movie that the United States ever made.
  
  M has a completely original, creative and stylish plot, and depicts the story of a psychotic criminal who has been assassinating the children of a German city, and has the peculiarity of whistling the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" while he is walking through the streets looking for more innocent children. The police start a brutal and exhaustive search which diameter of investigation increases gradually, house by house and establishment by establishment. However, this ends up being very inconvenient for the underground organized crime, complicating their operations considerably, so both the police of the city and the organized crime begin a search on their own, independently of the others. The police do it under the motive of achieving well-being for the population and that the children of the city stop disappearing. The organized crime does it under the motive of keeping the police far from their businesses and avoiding the bad reputation that the murderer is giving to them.
  
  Although this is a crime film, each aspect of it is sensational, from the cinematographic aspects to the technical ones. Fritz Lang was one of the very first directors that completely understood the meaning of filmmaking and that a masterpiece can be achieved thanks to the team work of every single department, so let's start with the screenplay. The screenwriters were Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou, and both of them clearly made sure that the structure of the story was well-planned. If you allow me to be honest, M is one of my favorite screenplays in the history of cinema just after 8½ (1963). The grandiosity of its structure goes beyond what words can describe and it is extremely careful with every single detail, including the dialogues, the scene changes and the loyal representation of the nature of each group that forms part of the whole society, including the gangsters, and the common citizens and local authorities. It is extraordinary how Lang reunited these elements so he could create a society with different motivations but with a common objective. The magical editing transports us from one place to another, narrating each event, with great precision and with the necessary emphasis so the film doesn't become into something tedious and boring to watch. The most wonderful aspect about Fritz Lang's direction is the fact that although it is a crime film full of style and suspense, he put a lot of effort so the film seemed like a very realistic one, and for me, it actually is one.
  
  The camera work is extraordinary, not only having shots with complicated angles, but also long sequences where the camera elegantly and harmonically strolls through in and out of closed spaces capturing an alive and active world. All of the personifications are magnificent, and it is here where we must make the appropriate emphasis in one of the best short performances I have ever seen in my entire life: Peter Lorre as the assassin Hans Beckert. There was not a better actor that could give so much life to such a mentally disturbed character, not only because of his acting, but also because of his physical appearance and his facial gestures. His big eyes and his expression full of terror denote his dependence towards his own insanity, an undeniable factor that is part of his own self. I had never seen a character that was so well-created and so representative of the involuntary madness of his personality. It is in the last 15 minutes of the movie when the perspective of the villain that Hollywood cinema normally tends to ignore even nowadays is shown. This is achieved through the final speech he gives in front of the spectators of the trial he is taken to which, judging by his personality, we don't even have the certainty that he is talking with the truth. It is possible that he even may not be capable of distinguishing the truth because of his low self-control that his psyche has caused in him. Peter Lorre was simply genius and it was definitely the best performance he ever achieved.
  
  The cinematography is marvelous. Although most of the time the story takes place inside of the city at midnight, the police investigation is at some point extended outside of the city, perfectly capturing the landscapes and the cast that is found within the camera shots. The direction of Fritz Lang is extraordinary and, considering that the film was completed in the year of 1931, I seriously doubt that any director had been capable of creating a story of such caliber and quality with so much spectacularity. Also, considering that cinema was barely beginning a new era of sound in films, silences are used in a very effective way in order to add much more suspense to the atmosphere of the film and the sound effects appear when they are required.
  
  M is, without a doubt, one of the most influential films in cinema history, not only within the genres of film-noir, crime and thriller, but also for the creation of characters, the breaking of protagonistic and antagonistic stereotypes, the handling of the camera, the editing and a new way for making films. Acclaimed films that are directed in the 21st Century frequently homage and give total or partial credit to M. Called by many as the best Fritz Lang film, it is for me also one of the best feature films created in the history of humanity. A masterpiece in both the technical and cinematographic aspects, M is and will be remembered by future generations as one of the most ambitious and best-achieved projects within the crime genre in German classic cinema.
  
  100/100

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  October 3, 2009

  fluturash

  for the 25 minutes i watched it, it seemed like a fantastic movie. i just couldn't bear to see it all. multiple reasons.
  a clear masterpiece of the genre. i might try seeing it again, fully, one day.

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• 
  September 5, 2008

  itbegins2005

  A really, really good film, if at times unbearably slow (they could have easily shaved ten, maybe twenty minutes off this puppy, but admittedly most of that would be in trimming long takes). Lang was a badass mofo behind the camera.

• Peter Lorre
• Ellen Widmann
• Inge Landgut
• Otto Wernicke
• Theodor Loos
• Gustaf Grundgens

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