It’s hard to overstate the significance of Fritz Lang’s seminal crime picture, M. Made in 1931 and apparently inspired by a real-life case, this is the first film to explore the subject of the serial killer. Despite the many hundreds of mass murderer pictures that have come since then, this remains one of the very best.
What’s the secret to its unsettling impact? For a start, there is the haunted central performance from Peter Lorre as the child killer. Part repulsive monster, part pathetic victim of his own dreadful impulses, Lang created in Hans Beckert a complex, craven creature who could strike fear and induce pity at the same time. Lorre fleshed him out with a performance that would secure his stardom. This new restoration of the film is re-released to mark the 50th anniversary of Lorre’s death.
Beckert’s spree of child abduction and murder strikes fear into the hearts of the people of Berlin. Lang uses the camera like some kind of aerial predator, hovering high over the unwitting victims. The use of sound is equally potent. Two thirds of the film was shot with sound, the rest without. Although it was initially just a cost-cutting measure, the moments of silence have an eerie quality that heightens the tension when the sound drops back in. Most impressive, however, is Lang’s handling of the action — the final act is an extended chase sequence, with Beckert pursued by Berlin’s feral criminal underworld, which has collectively decided to take the law into its own hands. Fritz Lang, 1931