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M - Eine Stadt Sucht einen Mörder (1931)

Crime | 117 minutes / 110 minutes (dvd)
3,84 870 votes

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Duration: 117 minuten / 110 minuten (dvd)

Alternative titles: M / M, een Stad Zoekt Zijn Moordenaar / Murderers among Us

Country: Germany

Directed by: Fritz Lang

Stars: Peter Lorre, Gustaf Gründgens and Otto Wernicke

IMDb score: 8,3 (175.166)

Releasedate: 11 May 1931

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M - Eine Stadt Sucht einen Mörder plot

"Who is the murderer?"

The police investigation into a child murderer is so thorough that it makes it impossible for the rest of organized crime to function as well. They decide to lend the police a hand by catching the killer themselves.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Hans Beckert

Frau Beckmann

Elsie Beckmann

Inspector Karl Lohmann

Inspector Groeber

The Cheater

Pickpocket with Six Watches

Bauernfänger

Reviews & comments


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avatar van tbouwh

tbouwh

  • 5750 messages
  • 5261 votes

Finally got to work on this classic. It's amazing how right from the start the high angle framing already expresses the powerlessness of citizens and authorities, how sound is played with and how paranoia and mutual suspicion cause division. Very special that Lang managed to create a great classic four years after the arrival of the talkies, while also being the director who (perhaps) made the masterpiece of the silent era. One big point of nuance: the sometimes caricatured characters (intentionally or unintentionally) often make you laugh, so that the serious tone of the narrative (especially at the beginning) is sometimes lost. The visible struggles with the critical transition to dialogue and verbal expression are quickly forgiven.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Fisico

Fisico (moderator films)

  • 9754 messages
  • 5303 votes

Very strong classic where a city is held hostage by a child killer. The first fifteen minutes are already blood-curdling when the little girl Elsie is approached by the killer and lured along. Those moments were masterfully staged with the shadow of the man on the advertising portal and also later when the balloon flies away as a silent witness.

The set with its narrow narrow streets and cellars also plays an important role in the film to indicate how connected, but actually how individualized society can be. Killing and kidnapping can be done virtually with impunity and almost in complete anonymity. With their limited resources, justice and the judiciary can hardly transcend amateurism.

Also interesting is the paranoia that reigns in the city. Virtually every man who approaches a child for good or ill, is immediately suspicious. If you left it to the mob, the process was immediately consummated. The murderer played by Peter Lorre is also masterful and cannot simply be labeled as extremely devilish. Lang plays with this on people's morale and feelings.

Technically, after all, very clever in length, playing with the lighting, the camera angles and the sound. At first I thought there was something wrong with the band, but after a while I realized that it was Lang himself to add nuances to what was being seen.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Roger Thornhill

Roger Thornhill

  • 5794 messages
  • 2314 votes

This remains a sombre and gripping film that has never disappointed me in all the years and times I've seen it. There are a few minor imperfections, in particular the absent or unrealistic ambient and background noise (footsteps, ordinary street noises, rustle of moving clothes, etc.) and the slow, too slow acting of Otto Wernicke as Inspector Lohmann (just like in Das Testament des Dr Mabuse two years later), but Lang doesn't give me time to bother with those bumps by presenting the film in such a compelling plot and in such a film-technically perfect way: the nice screaming group scenes, the the wandering camera rooms, the enormously detailed sets, the complexity of the searches of both the police and the gangs, the fast pace of the tight editing, and last but not least the black humor (the relationship between police and criminals, the parallel meetings smoke-filled rooms, the abandoned burglar, the beggars who make an inventory of what they have gathered that day, "Just a knock" on one's own wooden leg). Central, of course, is the beautiful role of Peter Lorre, never better than here with his round eyes, his In the hall of the mountain king whistling and his deep despair (Roger Ebert: "The film doesn't ask for sympathy for the killer Franz Becker, but it asks for understanding"), a nice contrast to Schränker, the boss of the underworld played by Gustaf Gründgens with characteristic mocking look, bowler hat and leather jacket. An absolute masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, whose subject shudders are only matched by the rapture of how brilliant this film is.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original