Shortly before escaping the gathering Nazi storm in Europe, director Fritz Lang and star Peter Lorre made this unforgettable portrait of an obsessed child killer in a society gone rotten to the core. Someone is murdering the children of Dusseldorf, and the police search is so intense that it's interfering with "normal" criminal business (as well as giving criminals a truly bad name). So the local hoods join the manhunt. Lang makes cops and criminals look very much the same in their appearance and dealings. The killer whistles Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on his rounds, and the creepy melody becomes the signature of his killings, but it's also his undoing. Toward the end, Lorre gives an impassioned and somewhat overwrought speech in his own defense. Visually, the black-and-white film is a masterpiece of German Expressionism. Lang's delicacy in handling and communicating the disappearance of each victim contrasts beautifully with his visceral portrait of civilization gone mad.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
" M " was filmed in 1931 by german director Fritz Lang. A psychotic serial killer is murdering young children in Berlin. The underworld will soon help the police to find this criminal. " M " belongs to Movie History thanks to an hypnotical Peter Lorre and the haunting musical score : Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt suite. A must.
The review of this Movie prepared by Daniel Staebler
