M (1931)

Fritz Lang’s rack-taut first talkie, with a searing, animalistic Peter Lorre as a serial child-murderer turned manhunt target.

Fritz Lang’s silent epics of intrigue and iniquity had all but invented the crime genre on film, and with M he laid the blueprint for every serial killer film that followed in its wake. While the opening scenes – when a schoolgirl is ominously presented with a balloon by a stranger in silhouette – create an atmosphere of dread, daringly the director later establishes the killer Hans Beckert as a figure of pathos.

Lang is more concerned with a clinical examination of the cross-section of Berlin society – the politicians, the businessmen, the organised criminals – whose self-serving interests are compromised by Beckert’s freedom. Lorre’s creepy, bulging-eyed performance as the killer who can’t help himself quickly attracted the attention of Hollywood, where he made a career playing sinister desperados.

“The greatest of the early talkies.” Andreas Kilb

“M is a dark symphony about Berlin at the dawn of the 20s. A whole era is reflected on the face of one man – a man suffering from “a social evil”, as Lang would say. Hans Beckert, the character played by Peter Lorre, meets the fury of the crowd; they are about to lynch him. But Lang is always on the side of those who try to understand human behaviour.” Miquel Escudero Diéguez

“A film that interrogates the complex, ambiguous nature of the human soul and notions of law and justice, with a mise en scène of rare stylistic perfection that combines German expressionism with the absolute power of offscreen and sound.” Giulio Casadei

“A lively, important work from the early sound era, its ingenious use of audio technique is still worth examining today.” Zhang Ling

1931 Germany
Directed by
Fritz Lang
Produced by
Seymour Nebenzal
Written by
Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang
Featuring
Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut
Running time
117 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for M

Critics

Raphael Abraham
UK
Ian Aitken
Hong Kong
Rommy Albers
Netherlands
Marten Blomkvist
Sweden
Bernd Brehmer
Germany
Rasmus Brendstrup
Denmark
Christian Cargnelli
Austria
Noël Carroll
USA
Giulio Casadei
Italy
Anne Demy-Geroe
Australia
Diedrich Diederichsen
Germany
Thomas Doherty
USA
Louise Dumas
France
Amir Emary
Egypt
Miquel Escudero Diéguez
Spain/Chile/France
Jordan Farley
UK
Francisco Ferreira
Portugal
Laure Gaudenzi
France
Adam Gonet
UK
Ulrich Gregor
Germany
Tom Gunning
USA
Malte Hagener
Germany
Robert Hanks
UK
Nima Hassani Nasab
Iran
Annika Haupts
Germany
Nick Hodgin
UK
Jan Holmberg
Sweden
Juliet Jacques
UK
Daniel Kasman
USA
Christian Keathley
USA
Dave Kehr
USA
Sascha Keilholz
Germany
Andreas Kilb
Germany
Michael Koller
Australia
Zhang Ling
China
Scott MacDonald
USA
Maria João Madeira
Portugal
Megan Mitchell
UK
James Mottram
UK
Nikolaj Nikitin
Germany
Davide Oberto
Italy
Luís Miguel Oliveira
Portugal
Olivier Père
France
Dana Polan
USA
Edward Porter
UK
Sven Pötting
Germany
Nanna Frank Rasmussen
Denmark
Pia Reiser
Austria
Jonathan Rosenbaum
USA
Rainer Rother
Germany
Joshua Rothkopf
USA
Yal Sadat
France
Kyle Stevens
USA
Richard Taylor
UK
Andrew Tracy
Canada

Directors

Yinan Diao
China
Andreas Fontana
Switzerland
Axel Kuschevatzky
USA/Argentina
Robert Schwentke
USA
Béla Tarr
Hungary

Articles related to M

Load more

Subscribe to BFI Player to access more films like this

Start with a 14-day free trial then only £6.99 a month - cancel any time.

Explore subscription on BFI Player