Fritz Lang embraces sound in this involving and influential psychological thriller.
Writing about M in 1931, the year that it was released, Fritz Lang explained that he wanted to make a film which reflected ‘the rhythm of our times, the objectivity of the age in which we are living.’ At the time in Weimar Republic Germany, there were several high-profile and shocking murder cases; M was Lang’s attempt to produce a film based on these real-life events.
In the opening scenes, the child-murderer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) approaches a young girl. It is an unsettling encounter in which his shadow appears before he does, creeping across a poster detailing his crimes. In the course of the film, the ‘moving spotlight’, as Lang would describe it, shifts from the murderer to the family of this, his latest victim, to the police and finally to the beggars and gangsters who work together to expose him.
German Expressionism would heavily influence Film Noir and in M we can see these roots in the use not just of sound but also atmospheric lighting
M was the first film Lang made with sound, bringing German cinema into the sound era. He uses it to great effect, from the unsettling refrain of Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ whistled by Beckert, to the noises of the metropolis which allow his short-lived escape from the clutches of his pursuers. Yet he is is also sparing with this new technology, dropping sound altogether as the net closes in on the murderer and he finds he has nowhere to turn, which only adds to the suspense. German Expressionism would heavily influence Film Noir and in M we can see these roots in the use not just of sound but also atmospheric lighting, the stark contrast between light and dark and close-up shots of the central character’s startled expressions.
As effectively as this extraordinary film shows both the hysteria of a society living in fear and the discovery and punishment of a mass murderer, there is another conflict portrayed within the figure of the criminal himself. Peter Lorre depicts Beckert’s gradual unraveling with power and passion in an astonishing central performance.
As Luc Boltanski says in his book Mysteries and Conspiracies, the ‘operation of unveiling…when a conspiracy is unmasked has the properties of a coup de théâtre, a dramatic turn of events’, as we are confronted with the hidden truth being brought to light. In M, the murderer faces the society he has wronged in a highly-charged final scene, with the policemen acting as jury and his defence drowned out by the baying of the crowd. For all the distress he shows in this scene, it appears nothing compared to the fear he feels of himself -– ‘I’m shadowing myself! … I want off!’ he cries. Perhaps the most compelling scene is that in which he spies himself in a reflection with the branding ‘M’ (for ‘murderer’) on his back, and Lorre’s eyes widen in terror. It is one of the great shots in cinema, with director and actor in perfect balance.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsVproWjN6c