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Summary: Why! Why! Why!
Review: Why have Criterion choosen to not include extras with this release? It is a landmark film. It is a classic. It was important then, as it is now. People who want to watch it (again and again) would like to know more about the background for the film and why it is so important. This kind of information should have included.The original title was supposed to be "The killer amongst us". The Nazis were uneasy with this because they worried that the title meant them. The film is about a child murderer. Unfortunatly this makes the film highly relevant today. The murder of the girl with the baloon is a landmark scene. How many times have we seen copies of it in other films. In this , Langs first sound movie, he uses sound techniques that was far ahead of its time. Perhaps he did not invent the sound bridge(sound from one scene carries over to another), but it is the earliest film where i have heard one. Also, after the murderer (brilliantly played by Peter Lorre) notices the "M" mark on his shoulder, watch closely when we watch him staring at us through a shopping window. You will se that he has a ring around his head, made up of the knifes on display in the window. It is the story, characters, filmtechnique and gems like these that makes you watch the film again and again. The last few seconds of the film is cut in many versions. This because Lang manages to turn the motive(revenge) to something different. Watch it and decide for yourself why one would like to remove the ending.In only a few second and a few words, the whole purpose of the film is changed. It is brilliant. Very clever!
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Summary: Genius Without Bloodshed
Review: Although _M_ has without a doubt influenced nearly every psychological thriller that has followed it, Lang's work still stands at the pinnacle as a film that is not only supreme but also vastly distinct from its descendents. Particularly striking is how the film unfolds: from subtle visual cues; not a drop of blood is ever shed. It is also redemming that the film is able to evoke symphathy for Lorre's child-murderer without heroicizing and glamourizing crime. It takes a master like Lang to direct a cohesive film based on specific human interactions rather than vague sociological themes.
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Summary: BUY THE DVD!
Review: A harrowing melodrama about a psychotic child murderer who's brought to justice by the Berlin underworld. Lorre's performance is unforgettable in this riveting and frightening film which is surprisingly cinematically dazzling for an early talkie. An unmistakable classic whose oddities are trivial; brilliantly staged, this film is part social melodrama and part satire and its got visual excitement, pace, brilliance of surface and feeling for detail.
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Summary: dark; influencial; a classic
Review: This early serial killer movie from Fritz Lang has influenced practically every other serial killer film ever made. Peter Lorre is the bug-eyed, pathetic and vaguely sympathetic child-murderer (the 'vampire of Dusseldorf') being captured and put on trial by the rough inhabitants of the town. Although this very early talkie is far slower paced then the equivalent films of today, it is intelligent and, in its day, seminal. The transfer to DVD is excellent considering the film's age, definitely superior to the crackly version I used to own on VHS. This serial killer film is artistic and influencial, although I preferred Fritz Lang's earlier classic sci-fi Metropolis.
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Summary: Impressive considering the film's age.
Review: Another reviewer here has covered the plot of the film and how good a film it is quite well, so I will concern myself with the merits of the DVD itself. The transfer is very good for a film that is nearly 70 years old. It is clear and reasonably free from defects. There is one small place in which the film appears to fold over on itself, but this lasts for only a moment. It is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the standard at the time the film was made. The soundtrack is mono and presented entirely trough the center channel. The dialog is easily heard and understandable (if you speak German) and the subtitles are well done. The whistling of the piece from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite is a bit high and tinny at times, but that merely adds to the jarring effect that it is meant to (and does) have on the viewer. This film is a masterpiece from the earliest era of sound motion pictures, and it holds up well to this day. The presentation is not perfect, but it is pleasing and given the age of this film, I don't know that it could be done any better.
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Summary: Unsurpassed Lang picture
Review: 'M' was a film that was as beyond its time as it was enigmatic in title. Who could have imagined that 1931 audiences would have been able to stomach witnessing the harrowing descent in the fortunes of a Berlin paedophile-homicide? The answer to that could well lie in Peter Lorre alone. The instant he is shown, he clicks in our minds as the template for any pervert-sociopath conjurable by any society. He is as pathetic as he is depraved, the near-two hour run of the film lending tremendous scope to the spiralling crash course he is on. Stripping away the heavy warning overtones inherent to 'M', the viewer is really left to gape at a horrific piece while feeling sprawled, reeling from an almost self-negating mix of want for Lorre's destruction and the dread of capture to be found in any set of chase sequences. The suspense surmounts as the minutes wear by, begetting terror that is just too great to abstract from and contemplate. The viewer is also left in a confused state because there is no protagonist body at all to identify with, only a bruised satisfaction of evil quashed by an unknowing coalition of societal elements being there to fill the emotional void. There are but four players in this work: the Molestor, the Mob, the Law and the Victims, each one turning like a set of gear-wheels in a machine, but all at the same desperate, frenetic rate. The pervert's capture and Mob trial are particularly intense areas of the story (this is a part Lorre was created by God to play), the overpowering sense of dread conveyed by the deluge of realism Lang's camera injects. Still, the Mob itself is a phenomenon. These are REAL gangsters whom Lang utilised to maximise effect and some of whom were arrested in real life during filming. The mob trial they facilitate is too real to watch, too demanding on the senses to appreciate as being merely an essential portion of the film. Peter Lorre is a wounded, thrashing wolf one moment and a gibbering tangle of Freudian/Durkheimian/Jungian cables the next.'M' is a documentary-film, not the other way round. As for the product itself: the print is as good as any from the early Thirties. Several versions of the 1931 'M' are in circulation and I don't think that this is the longest (try Eureka videos in the UK). Given the merits of the work it contains, the price is fair. This is really a more unsung hero in the Lang celluloid vault. It's interesting to note that the 1951 French remake, while capable of holding water as a film in its own right, just can't hold a candle to the shock-value of this. This was Fritz Lang as Christopher Columbus, discovering a territory in film that was not only unknown before but also forbidden.
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Summary: one of the most incredible films of all time
Review: with PSYCHO and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, M is one of the three greatest serial killer thrillers every put on film. The way Fritz Lang builds the suspense by never showing the killers face and the incrediby impactful music are tools that would later be copied by such greats as Hitchcock and Spielberg (you can see the impact on Spielberg just by watching JAWS) On top of that, the mock trial by the German underworld and Peter Lorre's final gripping speech make this one movie that no film buff should miss!
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: Fritz Lang's portrait of a serial killer is possibly my favorite of all time. It's nearly unbearably suspenseful in some parts, but it's wonderfully acted by Peter Lorre especially. Lorre plays a perverse child killer who is discovered by whistling a tune from "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and having a glow in the dark chalk letter "M" branded on the back of his jacket. The movie is very intelligent and absolutely fascinating. You will NOT be able to tear your eyes away from this classic - from the opening killing to the ending confession, it's classic and wonderful filmmaking.
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Summary: My Favorite of All Time
Review: A naive friend of mine (an avid fan of horror) refuses to watch this movie simply because of the use of the German language and subtitles. My friend says, "Who wants to read a movie?" When it's a movie like M, you'll find a taker right here. M is frightening and has aged well. The film is engaging, shocking, suspenseful, and eerie, and a film experience you may never forget. From the beginning murder sequence to the ending courtroom scene, the movie is fascinating.
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Summary: Fritz Lang's best film....
Review: This movie sort of set the ground for the noir genre of films. It also was very influential on a young Alfred Hitchcock who was inspired by the unnerving quality of the story and the cinematography. Lang was a master at experimenting with camera angles and uses them in this film to creatively develop a feeling of suspense. It is amazing how this film has a striking contemporary feel although it was made over sixty years ago. It has certainly stood the test of time and is guaranteed to keep modern viewers enthralled.
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