M

Fritz Lang's 'M' transports us into the world of 1930's Berlin at a time when it's people are beset by the spectre of a child killer in their midst. Murder by murder, the man's attacks on young girls are posted all over the city, creating a pall of fear and mistrust which casts a shadow of suspicion over almost every man in town.

Unable to turn up any reliable clues as to the identity of the murderer, the city's police forlornly raid every small corner of Berlin searching for the man. This action in turn upsets the local criminal underground, who determine that the killer must be stopped before he does any more harm to their rackets and the people of their city. The Berlin underground consequently devises a plan to capture the man themselves, and goes on to hire every beggar in town to help them execute it.

While the police slowly go about the business of following their formal lines of inquiry into the murders, the city's beggars manage to discover the child killer and mark him out with the letter 'M', so that he can be easily identified and captured through their dragnet. The resulting chase and later mock trial of the child murderer by a jury of his criminal peers makes for enthralling cinema.

This narrative, which explores the many centres of power and authority which are at play in every society, along with the freedoms that can be lost to its citizens in times of crisis, remains timely. This, coupled with Peter Lorre's excellent performance as the film's twitchy, compulsive child murderer and Fritz Lang's stark visual style and superior sense of dramatics is beyond reproach.

M makes for solid viewing, and in it, the the seeds of brilliance that were later crystallised in Orson Welles' 'The Trial' and Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thrillers can clearly be seen. Highly recommended.

Vanessa Long

This site has been visited times

+ Return to film page ..+ Return to homepage ..+ Go to guestbook