 [Larger view] | M - Criterion Collection (Speical Edition)
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 Did Alfred Hitchcock have a mentor? | |
| If he did it could have been Fritz Lang & his seminal talkie, M, made in 1931 & released in 1933. A deranged child murderer is loose in the city (played broadly & wonderfully by "newcomer," Peter Lorre). The movie has scenes pitting citizen v. citizen, in accusations & counter accusations, near lynchings & mob hysteria. The police seem helpless & bereft of clues. Organized crimes seeks to find the murderer also. He's bad for business. Crowd mentality is examined. It is a theme Lang returns to in later movies. His first American movie, Fury , (1936) deals with vigilantism & mob rule. This version, a poor print by the way, has English subtitles so your forced to pay attention. It was Lang's favorite film. It is a prototype, if you will, of the murder mystery genre. Kind of a precursor to Hitchcock's thrillers of the 40's & 50's. | |
 Ten. Do not fail to watch this old, old movie masterpiece | |
| This is, hands down, one of the best movies ever made. I think it was Peter Lorre's first lead role. He plays a psychopath, a murderer of children in Berlin in the 20s or 30s, an era in which the underworld had as much or maybe more power in running the city as did the police and civic officials. When the police crack down on the criminals in an attempt to catch the killer (who has the city held in terror for the safety of their children), the bad guys realize that they've got to find this nut case so they can get back in business again. The movie, to me, is remarkable for how much terror and horror it can display without showing one single piece of violence. All the nasty stuff occurs off camera: a child buys a balloon, the child enters a forest with Lorre, and as the child's mother endlessly calls her name out a window overlooking a deserted street, we see the balloon rise skyward from the forest. Absolutely amazing film - and trust me: you'll never hear the music of the Peer Gynt Suite again without thinking of this film. | |
| Murderous Molester Meets Mob Mentality... | |
| While watching this story unfold, I found myself on quite a rollercoaster ride of emotion. First, I hated Beckert (Peter Lorre's character) for luring innocent little girls to their hideous deaths. Beckert is scary due to his ordinariness, his gentle face and small stature. He's the opposite of what we tend to expect (even today) a child molester / killer to look like. I really wanted this guy caught! I cheered for the cops to nail this maniac at all cost. Then, I wanted the underworld types to nab him and dole out their version of justice (regardless of their selfish, criminal motives). The scenes of the crooks surrounding / hunting Beckert in a deserted office building are paranoic and intensely claustrophobic. I could feel the terror in Beckert's head. No longer the predator, he was now the prey. Once caught, he is taken to a deserted brewery and put on "trial" by the crime bosses. Beckert must plead for his life before a mob that's not all that interested in his side of the story. He delivers one of the most desperate pleas for mercy in movie history to an audience concerned only with his destruction. Just as the mob leaps at him to tear him apart, the cops arrive, becoming Beckert's (temporary) salvation. In the end, we are left with the words of one of the victims' mother. She sadly states that while Beckert may die for his crimes, this will not bring her baby back to her. Such is the great paradox of justice. Fritz Lang gives us quite a lot to think about in this legendary tale. Buy it and see what I mean... |
