Synopsis
A simple, haunting phrase whistled off-screen 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:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.19:1
- 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
- Conversation with Fritz Lang, a 50-minute film by William Friedkin
- Claude Chabrol’s M le Maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol by Pierre-Henri Gibert about Lang’s filmmaking techniques
- Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history
- Interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
- A physical history of M
- Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Plus: a 32-page booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles
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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