A serial killer plagues a town in Germany. Numerous children have gone missing, being befriended by a stranger and then killed in a manner most horrifying. The police are struggling to find clues under the ever-growing pressure from the public for results. They start mounting an offense against the town's criminal underworld. So much so that those criminals decide to find the killer themselves to ease the situation.
Fritz Lang's first sound picture and quite an impressive one at that. Lang experimented heavily with these new sound techniques. Most of them are so commonplace in modern cinema that you don't really notice them, but at the time they must have seemed very impressive indeed. One of the most notable traits - even today - is one of the earliest examples of the so called leitmotif technique, where a particular piece of music is attached to a particular character. Whenever you hear the Imperial March playing in Star Wars, for example, you know Darth Vader won't be far away. In this particular film the murderer likes to whistle "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and it is chilling indeed to see a child playing on the screen and then hear the whistling start off-screen.
The other major point in this film's favour is Peter Lorre as the murderer. Especially the final scene where he pleads about the demons in his head, about the dilemma of must versus want. A powerful scene and one I've often seen in film studies, which is why it's nice to have finally seen this film in its entirety.
M is an old film, all the way back from early 30s, but it's still head and shoulders above the vast majority of films made after its first screening. Well worth a watch for all fans of crime and mystery.
Fritz Lang's first sound picture and quite an impressive one at that. Lang experimented heavily with these new sound techniques. Most of them are so commonplace in modern cinema that you don't really notice them, but at the time they must have seemed very impressive indeed. One of the most notable traits - even today - is one of the earliest examples of the so called leitmotif technique, where a particular piece of music is attached to a particular character. Whenever you hear the Imperial March playing in Star Wars, for example, you know Darth Vader won't be far away. In this particular film the murderer likes to whistle "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and it is chilling indeed to see a child playing on the screen and then hear the whistling start off-screen.
The other major point in this film's favour is Peter Lorre as the murderer. Especially the final scene where he pleads about the demons in his head, about the dilemma of must versus want. A powerful scene and one I've often seen in film studies, which is why it's nice to have finally seen this film in its entirety.
M is an old film, all the way back from early 30s, but it's still head and shoulders above the vast majority of films made after its first screening. Well worth a watch for all fans of crime and mystery.