M (Masters of Cinema) Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) [1931]

"Who knows what it's like to be me?"An anguished cry from a tortured man, one that can't help elicit sympathy, despite the fact that the man in question in a serial killer."M" is a revolutionary, incredible movie in many ways. It began the career of Peter Lorre. It was the last gasp of German Expressionism before the Nazi takeover. It is, in many ways, Frtiz Lang's best film. It's haunting, moving and memorable like few other movies ever are.Many people today forget what a major impact German cinema had on the development of movies. Starting with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Special Collector's Edition) in 1920, and moving up through movies by greats like F W Murnau (Nosferatu, Faust, Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans) and Fritz Lang (Metropolis (Restored Authorized Edition), The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse - Criterion Collection), Germany manged to put forth some of the best, most amazing images ever projected up onto a screen. Who can forget the arrival of the plague ship in "Nosferatu", or Rotwang's robot in "Metropolis"? These images are iconic in our society, a fact made all the more interesting when you consider that not long after "M" another German would make the Swastika a very memorable and iconic image."M" tells the story of a serial killer who preys on children. We see him meeting a young girl as she goes home from school. We see him buying her a balloon. We see her mother wondering why she isn't home and calling out her name as the camera focuses on the pathetic place setting for a lunch the girl will never eat. We see her ball rolling away into the dirt near some bushes. We see her balloon rise up into the telephone wires.As the populace gets more and more concerned about these killings, the Berlin police get more and more frustrated, as does the criminal element. Sales of their various wares are down. Business is hurting. They resent being lumped in together with this child murder and even consider taking out an add in the papers to say that he isn't one of them.Eventually the criminals decide to act and begin to hunt for the killer themselves. What happens after they catch him is something that needs to be seen to be believed, as a kangaroo court of crimal masterminds puts the killer on trial, saying that many of them are quite well informed of the way the legal system works."M" can be viewed as the start of two major genres; film noir and police procedural. Much like in The Silence of the Lambs (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) and The Fugitive, you see the slow, steady process the police use as they try to track down a killer before he strikes again. And the film's status as the earliest form of noir is obvious to anyone who has ever seen any movie in that particular genre."M" is at times a hard movie to watch. You will find yourself feeling sympathy for Peter Lorre's character, vile though he is. His performance occupies maybe 20 minutes of screen time, but was so memorable that it resulted in him being typecast for the rest of his career. Given how good he was in those roles, maybe we should be thankful for that."M" was released on DVD as part of the Criterion Collection. The two-disc set can be bought for a surprisingly reasonable price on Amazon.com and is well worth purchasing, if for no other reason than the fact that you're not likely to find it in your local Blockbuster (though you can get a basic copy from Netflix). It includes many extras. The German dialogue with English subtitles may turn off some poeple, but it frankly adds an air to the film that dubbing would miss.To conclude: If you're a fan of movies like this, or just enjoy a good film, I highly recommend you make time for "M".

Fritz Lang (1890-1976) one of the greatest German film directors, who directed German and American films, considered M his greatest film. His mother was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism. Because of his family's Jewish origin, he escaped Germany in 1934 and came to the US. M was filmed while he was still in Germany in 1931. It was his first film with sound. In Germany, in 1927, he directed the sci-fi film Metropolis, which is considered by many to be the best silent film ever.The film stars Peter Lorre (1904-1964, he died at age 59). Lorre generally, as in this film, played sinister roles, but did act as a detective in a short-lived series. He made an international sensation in M, which was his first film. He acted previously on the stage. He was Jewish and escaped from Germany in 1933. His first English speaking film was Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" in 1934. He made it when he knew no English and his dialogue was written for him in phonetics.The film takes place in 1930 when a German town is beset with about a half dozen murders of young girls for some eight months. The film is in German with easy to read English subtitles. Everyone in the town is perplexed and afraid. The police are confused. Suspects are harassed. Innocent people are arrested. People blame the police for inaction and hate them. The police raid clubs and other gatherings without success. They gather beggars who are found on most streets to look out for a man talking to young girls and offer a large award. Men talking to young girls are beaten by onlookers. There is pandemonium. The criminal element in the town is bothered by the search for the murderer because with the police watching everything, their opportunities to commit crimes is reduced. This fact plays a significant role in the film.Fritz Lang told an interviewer that he likes a film where people can sympathize with the villain. Peter Lorre plays such a man. In the film he explains that he did not want to do what he did and usually does not remember what he did. It is an uncontrollable compulsion forcing him to kill young girls. This raises the question, assuming that he has such a compulsion should he be executed or sent to an institution where with time and treatment, he may be released and may, as some, including mothers of slain girls, scream out in the film, kill again.