Synopsis
A simple, haunting musical phrase whistled offscreen tells us that a young girl will be killed. “Who Is the Murderer?” pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) closes in on little Elsie Beckmann . . . In his harrowing masterwork M, Fritz Lang merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller.
Cast
| Hans Beckert | Peter Lorre |
| Frau Beckmann | Ellen Widmann |
| Elsie Beckmann | Inge Landgut |
| Superintendent Lohmann | Otto Wernicke |
| Superintendent Groeber | Theodor Loos |
| Safebreaker | Gustaf Gründgens |
| Burglar | Friedrich Gnaß |
| Cardsharp | Fritz Odemar |
| Pickpocket | Paul Kemp |
| Confidence trickster | Theo Lingen |
| Counsel for the defense | Rudolf Blümner |
| Blind street vendor | Georg John |
Credits
| Director | Fritz Lang |
| Screenplay | Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang |
| Cinematography | Fritz Arno Wagner |
| Sound | Adolf Jansen |
| Editing | Paul Falkenberg |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- Restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M, and Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife
- The long-lost English-language version of M, from a nitrate print preserved by the British Film Institute (on the Blu-ray edition)
- Conversation with Fritz Lang, a 50-minute film by William Friedkin
- Claude Chabrol’s M le maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus a video interview with Chabrol about Lang’s filmmaking techniques
- Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
- Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history, set to clips from the film
- Documentary on the physical history of M, from production to distribution to digital restoration
- Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and production sketches
- Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, the script for a missing scene, three contemporaneous newspaper articles, and a 1963 interview with Lang
From the Current
The Mark of M
by Dec 6, 2004It’s hard to believe that M was made in 1931. If we allow for the fact that it’s in black and white, it is more engaging of the eye, more incisive in its irony, more firm in its grasp of social complications than most of films that come along today. Take the very first shot . . .
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