M (1931 film)

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

The film has become a classic which Lang himself considered his finest work.

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 Berlin. (While the location is never mentioned in the film, the dialect used by the characters is characteristic of Berliners, and a police inspector's map labeled "Berlin" and a policeman's order to take a suspect to the "Alex", Berlin's central police headquarters on the Alexanderplatz, make the venue clear.) This foreshadows the appearance of Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), a serial killer 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 Edvard Hagerup Grieg. He befriends Elsie Beckmann (Inge Landgut), a little girl playing with a ball. He buys her a balloon from a blind man. Tension gradually builds as her mother (Ellen Widmann) waits for Elsie to come home, culminating in her frantically calling for Elsie out of the window. The audience see Elsie's ball rolling 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 frequent raids and question known criminals. This affects underworld business so badly that Der Schränker ("The Safecracker", played by Gustaf Gründgens) calls a meeting of the top bosses. They decide to get rid of the killer themselves so they can resume "business". They enlist the help of the city's beggars to divide up the city "metre by metre" and keep watch over the children. 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. He makes the mistake of compulsively whistling his characteristic tune again near the blind balloon salesman as he is luring away his next intended victim. The blind man tells one of his friends, who tails the killer with assistance from other beggars and vagrants he alerts along the way. To track him, one of them marks a large letter M (for Mörder, meaning "murderer" in German) on the back of Beckert's coat with chalk by pretending to slip on an orange peel Beckert has dropped and slapping the murderer's shoulder in seeming irritation.

When Beckert finally realizes he is being followed, he tries to get away, hiding inside a large office building. After receiving a call from the lookouts, Der Schränker assembles a team to search the building after all the day workers have left. They tie up and torture a guard for information, capture the remaining watchmen, then systematically explore the building from coal cellar to attic, finally capturing Beckert with seconds to spare after one of the watchmen trips the silent alarm. One crook, Franz, is left behind in the hasty departure and captured by the police.

They take him before a kangaroo court 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, "Who knows what it's like to be me?" Just as the enraged criminals are about to kill Beckert, the police arrive, having tricked Franz into spilling what he knows.

The final image of the film is that of five judges about to sentence Beckert. Before the sentence is announced, the shot cuts to three of the victims' mothers crying, with Elsie's mother saying that neither sentence would 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.
• 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.
• 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".

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 Innkeeper
• 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, although Lang denied that he drew from this case. "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.

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. 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.

Lang was also legendary for the sometimes extreme methods he used in order to elicit better performances, and a story told about the production of M has it that during the scene where Lorre is chased by the mob, and thrown down a flight of stairs, Lang actually threw Lorre down a flight of stairs. The pair of hands from off-screen pushing Lorre down are alleged to be the director's own hands.

As with many other early talkies from the years 1930–1931, 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.

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. M was ranked #33 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.

See also

• Trial movies

External links

• M is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• M at IMDb
• M at AllMovie
• M at Box Office Mojo
• M at Rotten Tomatoes
• M at the TCM Movie Database
• "M": an interpretation
• Criterion Collection essay by Stanley Kauffmann
• M Photographs and literature