Movie – M (1931) (part 1)

Movie – M

Original title : M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder , which means M - A city looks for a murderer.

In France, it is called M le Maudit. 

Score : 9/10  

Year : 1931

Director:  Fritz Lang 
Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner 

Country: Germany

Language: German

Duration: mutliple. This movie was also a victim to loss and damage, see below. 

Writers: Thea Von Harbou & Fritz Lang (script) 
Note : this movie is unrated, but should be a strong PG13 because of its topic. 

(To part 2 for M in the medias) 

As the police cannot find a serial child murderer in spite of numerous raids in the underground and combing the entire city, the local organised crime takes matter in their own hands and start a private manhunt, to find the murderer before the police. 

Fritz Lang's first sound film, M, which he considered his finest work, is indeed a masterpiece and conveys strong social commentary, as both he and his wife Thea Vin Harbou were concerned with the crisis Germany was traversing and its ripeness for dictatorship in these early 1930's. (they dealt with this topic as early as 1927 in Metropolis). 

Every single shot carries a meaning and therefore done with great intent. M highlights the weight of personal destiny and all of societies' arrogance : from the minister putting pressure on the chief of police and not understanding the difficulties the police faces, and then in turn, the chief's slothfulness is depicted in a very bad light (shows what Fritz thought of them, a bit like Alfred Hitchcock).

The lighting and cinematography are impeccable, as well as the acting, especially by the vilain, passing through all the gambit of emotions. 

At moments, I can see a bit of over-acting, fruit of the silent movie era which was ending, but that doesn't bother me : it's actually an asset here. 

There are very creative scenes throughout M, such as using glass and reflections around a character, or tilting the cameras to odd angles. 

M isn't graphic as the murder is suggested and Fritz continues to use allegories and is one of the first to use leitmotif, which is a technique borrowed from opera : a musical tune (in the hall of the mountain king, by Edward Grieg) is associated with a character. 

Some humorous scenes alleviate the heavy atmosphere raised by the very topic of this film, for which the director has actually visited an asylum to better understand certain aspects of his character, and, funny anecdote, some extras were actual criminals who were arrested later during filming.  

Fritz was also able to experiment with new technology and techniques in his soundtrack choices, from narration, to silence in suspenseful moments just before sudden noise, and in between, he added sounds off-camera). 

The movie's duration vary greatly, some due to different edits, and later due to loss and damage of the original films : 

1 hr 57 min (117 min)  (original German)
1 hr 58 min (118 min) (original France) 
1 hr 39 min (99 min) (USA) 
1 hr 50 min (110 min) (2004 Criterion DVD edition) 
1 hr 45 min (105 min) (2000 restored) (Germany) 
1 hr 48 min (108 min) (re-release) (Germany)

The French DVD EAN 3760019381633 that I borrowed at the local media library proposes 1h49m16seconds, and cuts very abruptly at the final scene.

The sound transfer at moments is mediocre, and there are a few silent scenes, which are directorial choices, and are quite uniquely executed. 

I enjoyed M greatly, and consider it a masterpiece, one of the best crime movies which have set certain standards in movie making.

Starring : Peter Lorre, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Gründgens, Franz Stein, Theodor Loos. et al.