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1931 film| M | |
|---|---|
| File:Peter Lorre in 'M' (screenshot).jpg | |
| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Written by | Fritz Lang Thea von Harbou |
| Produced by | Seymour Nebenzal |
| Starring | Peter Lorre |
| Distributed by | Vereinigte Star-Film GmbH (Germany) Paramount Pictures (USA) |
| Release dates |  May 11 1931  May 3, 1933 |
| Running time | 117 min. |
| Language | German |
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M is a 1931 German crime film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou.
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler A serial killer, played by Peter Lorre, preys on children; the police of Berlin exert so much energy on finding him that the work of the criminal underworld is impeded. The crime gangs therefore decide to find the killer themselves, and eventually do so, branding his coat with the letter 'M' for murderer. In the film's climax, the killer, Hans Beckert, facing certain death at the hands of an underworld kangaroo court, makes an impassioned speech declaring that he can't control his violent urges. The monologue ends with the famous line (delivered by Lorre in a near scream) "Who knows what it's like to be me?"
Links with other works
It has been claimed that the film is based in part on the story the Vampire of Düsseldorf, Peter Kürten, although Lang denied it.
M features a "League of Beggars", who also show up in the roughly contemporaneous Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill collaboration The Threepenny Opera and its source The Beggar's Opera.
Lorre's character whistles the tune "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. However, Peter Lorre himself could not whistle - it is actually Fritz Lang who is heard.
The police inspector Karl "Fatty" Lohmann proved so popular with audiences that he was brought back for Lang's next film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
According to the Internet Movie Database, the working title was Die Mörder sind unter uns ("The murderers are among us"), which was changed during production to M. The original title could be interpreted as a stab at German society at the time and the Nazi party. In the film, the townspeople actually gang up on Beckert and are close to murdering him themselves, interrupted only by the arrival of the police. The current German title is M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, "M: A City Seeks a Murderer". A different film by Wolfgang Staudte was released in 1946 with the title Die Mörder sind unter uns.
Legacy
M was the first starring role for Peter Lorre, and it boosted his career, even though he was typecast as a villain for years after.
Lorre's climactic speech was appropriated by Joseph Goebbels for the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew, a Holocaust apologist film that blames Jews for devaluing German culture with degenerate art. Because Lorre was Jewish, the film uses his final speech as "proof" that Jews exemplify innate criminality, and refuse to take responsibility for their wrongdoings.
Although sound had been used in films for several years before M, the film was one of the first to use a leitmotif, associating the "Hall of the Mountain King" with the Lorre character. Late in the film, the mere sound of the song lets the audience know that he must be nearby, offscreen. This association of a musical theme with a particular character or situation, a technique borrowed from opera, is now a film staple.
Although The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) is traditionally credited as the first film noir, the American genre was inspired by earlier European films with dark, stylish cinematography, and in that respect, M anticipated many essential features of the genre.
The movie was remade in Hollywood in 1951 (see M (1951 film)), shifting the action from Berlin to Los Angeles. The remake, directed by Joseph Losey with David Wayne playing Lorre's role, was not well received by critics or audiences.
Today, M consistently ranks among the top 75 of the Internet Movie Database's top 250 films.
Notes
- M, Court TV Crime Library Serial Killers Movies. Accessed 28 October 2006.
- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Fascinating Rhythms, Chicago Reader Movie Review, 1997, accessed online 28 October 2006.
- Gustavo Costantini, Leitmotif revisited. Accessed 10 April 2006.
See also
External links
- M at IMDb
- Program Details for M, available for download from archive.org.
- Criterion Collection essay by Stanley Kauffmann
- Watch the film
| Preceded byPicnic at Hanging Rock | The Criterion Collection 30 |
Succeeded byGreat Expectations |