Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Latest
    • Thank You
    • 4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
    • 3999. The Pianist (2002)
    • 3998. Philadelphia (1993)
    • 3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
    • 3996. The Green Mile (1999)
    • 3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    • 3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Home
    • Blog
      • All Posts
      • Best Of The Year
        • Best Of 2015
        • Best Of 2016
        • Best Of 2017
        • Best Of 2018
        • Best Of 2019
        • Best Of 2020
        • Best Of 2021
        • Best Of 2022
      • The Decade In Review
      • Box Office Analysis
      • James Bond
      • Oscars
      • RANKED
      • Star Wars
      • The Big Questions
      • Top 10
      • World Cinema
    • Ratings
      • Top 250
      • Top 100 Foreign Films
      • Bottom 50
      • 0 – 1.9
      • 2 – 3.9
      • 4 – 5.9
      • 6 – 7.9
      • 8 – 10
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Anthology
      • Animation
      • Christmas
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Film-Noir
      • History
      • Horror
      • Kids’
      • Musical
      • Psychological
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Short
      • Silent
      • Sport
      • Superhero
      • Survival
      • Thriller
      • Western
    • Release Year
      • 2020s
      • 2010s
      • 2000s
      • 1990s
      • 1980s
      • 1970s
      • 1960s
      • 1950s
      • 1940s
      • 1930s
      • 1920s
    • Country
      • Afghanistan
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Brazil
      • Cambodia
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Costa Rica
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • East Timor
      • Faroe Islands
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Georgia
      • Greece
      • Hong Kong
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Ireland
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Latvia
      • Lebanon
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Mexico
      • New Zealand
      • Nigeria
      • North Korea
      • Norway
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Philippines
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • South Africa
      • Soviet Union
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uganda
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Uruguay
      • Vietnam
      • Zambia
    • About
    The Mad Movie Man
    You are at:Home»Review»1059. M (1931)

    1059. M (1931)

    0
    By The Mad Movie Man on August 16, 2015 100-109 mins, 1931, 6 - 7.9, Aug 15, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Germany, Movies Of 2015, Review, Thriller
    7.5 Disturbing thriller
    • Acting 7.5
    • Directing 7.5
    • Story 7.4
    • User Ratings (0 Votes) 0

    Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut

    Director: Fritz Lang

    Running Time: 108 mins


    M is a German film about the investigation to catch a psychotic child-murderer in, where not only the whole town attempts to bring the man to justice, but also other notorious criminals.

    From Fritz Lang, director of artistic and cinematic classic Metropolis, comes this much grittier and darker story about a brutal child-catcher and the impact of his presence on an entire community, which is on the one hand very intriguing, but on the other, occasionally slow-moving and heavy-going.

    Let’s start, however, with the opening stages of this film, by far the most attention-grabbing and thrilling. The first lines involve a little girl singing a playground song about ‘the man in black’ coming to get you, immediately setting a hugely uneasy tone for the entire film.

    Following that, we see the first on-screen instances of the murderer’s actions, which are extremely creepy and unsettling to watch, as it’s all done in a rather mysterious and hidden way to heighten the fear and intrigue.

    What’s more is that this film, throughout, in fact, doesn’t really have anything in the way of a score, which is by far one of the most ingeniously eerie techniques of the whole thing, and particularly in those opening stages, where everything is desperate at the hands of the seemingly infallible child-catcher, it’s really quite scary.

    The only music in this at all is the song ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’, whistled by the child-murderer when capturing his victims, and that is definitely one of the most frightening parts of the entire film, as the tune immediately lets you know that all hope is lost in that instant, leading to a much more desperate and harrowing situation.

    Another impressive part of this film is Lang’s cinematography. Whilst Metropolis really blew minds with some of its special effects, this is a very cleverly-shot film, with a lot of high-angle and side-on shots that really increase the thrills and suspense of a lot of the film.

    The only problem that I have with this film is that, in its latter stages, it does lose the really exciting elements of the opening stages. Initially, everything was scary and mysterious, but as the story goes on, too much is revealed about the murderer, killing the intrigue in that respect, and too much time is spent on criminals deliberating on whether to go after the man.

    However, the final scene is a legendary one, and one that is truly captivating, thanks to the incredible acting of Peter Lorre, and amazing writing that turns the film into more of an ethical study than a simple thriller.

    Overall, this gets a 7.5, because of its brilliant opening stages, unsettling lack of score, acting and cinematography, however the middle part of the film is just a bit too slow and sluggish to really keep your attention as the beginning did.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    The Mad Movie Man, AKA Anthony Cullen, writes articles and reviews about movies and the world of cinema. From January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2022, he watched and reviewed a movie every day. This is the blog dedicated to the project: www.madmovieman.com

    Related Posts

    8.2

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    Follow Me Online!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Tumblr
    New Releases
    8.2
    December 25, 2022

    3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

    5.6
    December 10, 2022

    3969. Falling For Christmas (2022)

    6.9
    December 4, 2022

    3956. The People We Hate At The Wedding (2022)

    5.4
    December 3, 2022

    3954. Disenchanted (2022)

    7.4
    December 3, 2022

    3953. Meet Cute (2022)

    7.6
    November 23, 2022

    3934. Do Revenge (2022)

    7.0
    November 18, 2022

    3929. The Wonder (2022)

    6.7
    November 13, 2022

    3924. See How They Run (2022)

    Recommended Movies
    8.5
    Review
    December 4, 20130

    371. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

    8.0
    Review
    January 31, 20200

    2839. Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020)

    8.1
    Review
    July 2, 20150

    1010. Toy Story (1995)

    9.1
    Review
    August 21, 20200

    3063. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)

    8.3
    Review
    July 7, 20160

    1410. Waterloo Bridge (1940)

    Popular Posts
    December 31, 2022

    Thank You

    8.2
    December 31, 2022

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8
    December 30, 2022

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2
    December 29, 2022

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    7.5
    December 28, 2022

    3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

    9.1
    December 27, 2022

    3996. The Green Mile (1999)

    7.6
    December 26, 2022

    3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.