M (1931)

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Thea von Harbou (script) and
Fritz Lang (script)

Release Date:

31 August 1931 (Sweden)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Plot:

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Criminal | Killer | Investigation | Serial Killer

Cast

Peter Lorre	...	Hans Beckert
Ellen Widmann	...	Frau Beckmann
Inge Landgut	...	Elsie Beckmann
Otto Wernicke	...	Inspector Karl Lohmann
Theodor Loos	...	Inspector Groeber
Gustaf Gründgens	...	Schränker
Friedrich Gnaß	...	Franz, the burglar
Fritz Odemar	...	The cheater
Paul Kemp	...	Pickpocket with six watches
Theo Lingen	...	Bauernfänger
Rudolf Blümner	...	Beckert's defender
Georg John	...	Blind panhandler
Franz Stein	...	Minister
Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur	...	Police chief
Gerhard Bienert	...	Criminal secretary

Also Known As:

Fritz Lang's M (Australia)
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (Germany) (alternative title)
M - Mörder unter uns (Germany) (working title)
Murderers Among Us
л (Soviet Union: Russian title) [ru]
El vampiro negro (Argentina) [es]
M (Denmark) [da]
M - Dein Mörder sieht dich an (Austria) [de]
M - kaupunki etsii murhaajaa (Finland) [fi]
M - morderca (Poland) [pl]
M le maudit (France) [fr]
M, O Vampiro de Dusseldorf (Brazil) [pt]
M, el vampiro de Düsseldorf (Spain) [es]
M, il mostro di Dusseldorf (Italy) [it]
M, o dolofonos (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Matou (Portugal) [pt]
O drakos tou Dusseldorf (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

117 min | 110 min (2004 Criterion DVD edition) | France:118 min | Germany:105 min (2000 restored version) | Germany:108 min (re-release) | USA:99 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (1995) | Finland:K-16 (1960) | Germany:(Banned) (1933-1945) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Germany:12 (re-rating 2006) | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | Germany:16 (video rating) | West Germany:16 (bw) (nf) | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1933) | Portugal:17 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Not Rated | Norway:15 (1995) | Portugal:M/12 (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

Staaken, Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Nero-Film AG

Trivia:

Director Fritz Lang has claimed that M was his favorite film of those he had directed.

Quotes:

Hans Beckert: I can't help what I do! I can't help it, I can't...
Criminal: The old story! We never can help it in court!
Hans Beckert: What do you know about it? Who are you anyway? Who are you? Criminals? Are you proud of yourselves? Proud of breaking safes or cheating at cards? Things you could just as well keep your fingers off. You wouldn't need to do all that if you'd learn a proper trade or if you'd work. If you weren't a bunch of lazy bastards. But I... I can't help myself! I have no control over this, this evil thing inside of me, the fire, the voices, the torment!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A 15ª Pedra (2006)

Soundtrack:

Le Halle du Roi de la Montagne

60 years old, and still uber-suspenseful

The opening scene of this movie is the first clue to its near perfection – A mother preparing dinner for her child, waiting anxiously for her to return from school. Her hope, and then distress as she hears people pass outside her door. While down in the streets of Berlin, her daughter is receiving a balloon from a strange man in a long black coat. We know what's going to happen, but it's still horrific to watch.

Fritz Lang, you cinematic god! A simple story of the underworld, the police, and a single man holding an entire city hostage, and done with such precision and pre-noir darkness that is oozes creepy suspense from beginning to end.

But this movie is not so simple as the police inspectors trying to catch a devious murderer – it's about the mob, employing its network of beggars and petty thieves also trying to bring the killer to their own brand of justice. Apparently, the police crackdown caused by the murders is bad for business – so the mob begins to track him down as well.

It's not only a great crime story, and perhaps the first physiological thriller (the murderer is schizophrenic) but there's comments to be made here about the nature of justice, and who should best dispense it.

In all, not only a trail-blazing classic, but THE trail-blazing classic.