M (1931 film)

M
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Seymour Nebenzal
Written by	Fritz Lang Thea von Harbou Paul Falkenberg Adolf Jansen
Starring	Peter Lorre Otto Wernicke Gustaf Gründgens Ellen Widmann Inge Landgut Theodor Loos Friedrich Gnass
Music by	Edvard Grieg
Cinematography	Fritz Arno Wagner
Editing by	Paul Falkenberg
Distributed by	Vereinigte Star-Film GmbH Paramount Pictures (US)
Release date(s)	Germany: 11 May 1931 United States: 3 May 1933
Running time	117 minutes 99 minutes (US) 110 minutes (2004 Criterion DVD)
Country	Germany
Language	German

M (German: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder) is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed over a dozen films previously.^[1]

The film has become a classic which Lang himself considered his finest work.^[2][3]

Plot

The action opens with a group of children playing a game involving a song about a child murderer in the courtyard of an apartment building in a large German city. While the location is never mentioned in the film, the dialect used by the characters and the several maps used throughout the film bearing the city's trademark bear symbol heavily suggest that the action takes place in Berlin. This foreshadows the appearance of Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), a serial killer — and, it is implied, a pedophile — who preys on children. Initially the audience does not see Beckert's face; they merely see his shadow, shots of his body and hear him whistling "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg as he buys a balloon from a blind man and gives it to a little girl named Elsie Beckmann (Inge Landgut). Tension gradually builds as her mother (Ellen Widmann) waits for Elsie to arrive for lunch, culminating in her frantically calling for Elsie out of the window, as the audience sees Elsie's ball rolling away through long grass and then the child-shaped balloon ensnared in telephone lines, and subsequently floating away.

Meanwhile, the police, under Inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), pursue the killer using then state of the art techniques such as fingerprinting and handwriting analysis. They also stage spectacular raids and question known criminals. This affects underworld business so badly that some of the top crooks decide to get rid of the killer themselves so they can resume "business". After an all night brainstorming session, the criminals enlist the help of the city's beggars to divide up the city "metre by metre" and keep watch over the children to intercept the killer. At the same time the police are holding a similar meeting and Lohmann hits on the idea that the killer may have a previous psychiatric record, and orders the compilation of a list of recently released patients with a history of offenses against children.

Thus a race develops between the police and the criminals to catch the killer, who is completely unaware of what is happening. He makes the mistake of compulsively whistling his characteristic tune again near the same blind balloon salesman as before. The blind man tells one of the criminals, who tails the killer with assistence from other beggars and vagrants he alerts on the way. Desperate for a way to track him, one of them marks a large letter M (for "Mörder", meaning murderer in German) onto his own hand with chalk. He then picks an argument with Beckert and claps him on the shoulder, transferring the letter M onto the killer's coat.

Now able to track the killer, the beggars pursue him and, after being detected by the now terrified Beckert, run him to ground inside a large office building. After receiving a call from the lookouts, Schrenker assembles a team of crack burglars and safe breakers to assault the building. They tie up and torture a guard, capture the remaining watchmen then systematically ransack the building from coal cellar to attic, finally capturing Beckert with seconds to spare after one of the watchmen trips the silent alarm. They bring him before a kangaroo court conducted by criminals in an abandoned distillery; Beckert is even given a "lawyer". Beckert delivers an impassioned monologue, saying that the voices in his head compel him to commit these crimes, while the other criminals present break the law by choice. His "lawyer" even points out that the presiding "judge" is himself wanted on three counts of manslaughter. Beckert adds in his monologue: "Who knows what it's like to be me?" As the criminals are about to kill Beckert, the police (who have captured one of the burglars from the office break-in and tricked him into talking) arrive, snatching him from certain doom.

The final image of the film is that of five judges about to give Beckert his sentence. Before the sentence is announced, the shot cuts to three of the victims' mothers crying, with Elsie's mother saying that either sentence will not bring back the dead children. And, that "One has to keep closer watch over the children. All of you."

Cast

• Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert. M was Lorre's first major starring role, and it boosted his career, even though he was typecast as a villain for years after in films such as Mad Love and the film adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Before M, Lorre was mostly a comedic actor. After fleeing from the Nazis, he landed a major role in Alfred Hitchcock's first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), picking up English along the way.^[4]
• Otto Wernicke as Inspector Karl Lohmann. Wernicke made his breakthrough with M after playing many small roles in silent films for over a decade. After his part in M, he was in great demand due to the success of the film, including returning to the role of Karl Lohmann in The Testament of Doctor Mabuse, and he played supporting roles for the rest of his career.^[5]
• Gustaf Gründgens as Der Schränker. Gründgens received acclaim for his role in the film and established a successful career for himself under Nazi rule, ultimately becoming director of the "Staatliches Schauspielhaus".^[6]

Other cast

• Ellen Widmann as Frau Beckmann
• Inge Landgut as Elsie Beckmann
• Theodor Loos as Inspector Groeber
• Friedrich Gnass as Franz, the burglar
• Fritz Odemar as Cheater
• Paul Kemp as Pickpocket with six watches
• Theo Lingen as Bauernfänger
• Rudolf Blümner as Beckert's defender
• Georg John as Blind balloon seller
• Franz Stein as Minister
• Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur as Police chief
• Gerhard Bienert as Criminal secretary
• Karl Platen as Damowitz, a night-watchman
• Rosa Valetti as Elisabeth Winkler, Beckert's landlady
• Hertha von Walther as Prostitute
• Hanna Maron as Girl in circle at the beginning (uncredited)
• Klaus Pohl as Witness / one-eyed man (uncredited)

Production

Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert, gazing into a shop window. Lang uses glass and reflections throughout the film for expressive purposes.

M is supposedly based on the real-life case of serial killer Peter Kürten, the "Vampire of Düsseldorf", whose crimes took place in the 1920s,^[7] although Lang denied that he drew from this case.^[8] "At the time I decided to use the subject matter of M there were many serial killers terrorizing Germany — Haarmann, Grossmann, Kürten, Denke," Lang told film historian Gero Gandert in a 1963 interview.^[9]

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 Lang who is heard.^[10] The film was one of the first to use a leitmotif, associating "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with the Lorre character. Later in the film, the mere sound of the song lets the audience know that he is nearby, off-screen. This association of a musical theme with a particular character or situation, a technique borrowed from opera, is now a film staple.^[11]

As with several other early talkies, M was partially refilmed with actors (including Lorre) performing dialogue in other languages for foreign markets after the German original was completed, apparently without Lang's involvement. A complete print of the English version and selected scenes from the French version were included in 2010 Criterion Collection releases of the film.^[12]

Reaction

A Hollywood remake of the same name was released in 1951, shifting the action from Berlin to Los Angeles. The remake was directed by Joseph Losey and starred David Wayne in Lorre's role.

See also

• Trial movies

Notes

External links

• M available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• M at the Internet Movie Database
• M at Allmovie
• M at Box Office Mojo
• M at Rotten Tomatoes
• M at the TCM Movie Database
• Criterion Collection essay by Stanley Kauffmann
• M Photographs and literature

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