M (1931)

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Director: Fritz Lang

Writers: Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang

Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke, Theodor Loos, Gustaf Grundgens



German director Fritz Lang's first sound film was this haunting story of a child murderer (Peter Lorre) on the loose in a large German city. 



It is a seminal film in the sense that it ranks among the first appearances of two genres: police procedurals and serial killer movies. 



Lang's Berlin is an eerie place full of shadows and inhabited by a very well-organized underworld that is capable of launching its own manhunt for the killer when the police investigation makes things too uncomfortable. 



Lorre's Hans Beckert is a pathetic figure that acts on his grotesque compulsions in total ignorance of the forces aligning against him. His tormented speech toward the end of the film, when he has been put on trial before the mass of the Berlin underworld, shows keen insight into the killer's condition and mental state, almost eliciting sympathy for him. 



This is a stark, fascinating film.










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