Of all Fritz Lang's creations, none have been more innovative or influential than M, the film that launched German cinema into the sound era with stunning sophistication and mesmerising artistry.
The power of Fritz Lang's highly stylised film M (originally release in 1931) is how relevant and modern it is today. A highly emotive subject, it tells the story of a murderous paedophile terrorising the small German city of Dusseldorf.
Based on the story of real-life child-killer Peter Kurten in the 1920s, M opens with the introduction of the killer and victim in an unstable environment where a manovelant presence hovers over the dark landscape. For much of the film, Franz Beckert (Lorre) is absent, only glimpsed infrequently until his capture in the third act. Instead, Lang concentrates on the parallel investigations rather than the murderer’s erroneous acts thus, according to the director; "forcing each individual member of the audience to create the gruesome details of the murder according to his personal imagination." Becker remains an indistinct figure, only to be revealed as inadequate and repulsive when brought out into the open.
But the police, led by the methodical police inspector Karl Lohmann (Wernicke), are not the only ones on the hunt for the child-killer. With very few clues to go on, the police are nowhere near solving the case propelling the criminal underworld to place a bounty on his head to cease the endless police searches that have interfered their activities.
Lang plays upon the irony of their unwitting cooperation ensuring that the two groups are almost indistinguishable through seemless intercuts between the police and criminal world’s frantic search. All this is juxtaposed with the Berkert’s hunt and gentle seduction of his next victim. Through this contrast the director skilfully manipulates the audience, successfully building the tension towards a satisfactory climax to the film. There is not one obsolete frame in the movie.
Lang’s use of sound is also skilful. Indeed, much of the film, screams silence interrupted only when speech or a sound-effect is unavoidably required. We need only hear the whistled tune to know that the killer is on the prowl which will ultimately lead to his downfall. Thus M is a bridge between the silent and talkie eras, utilising methods from both to great effect.
M continuously surpasses the audience’s expectations, refusing to portray the characters in a conventional sense. Beckert, the killer is pudgy but charming, softly-spoken with an almost angelic, baby-face and is child-like in manner. Furthermore, his crimes were not beyond comprehension. The criminal boss Schraenker (Gründgens) is suited and booted and unites the scattered gangs to hunt for the killer. In contrast, the chubby detective Lohmann is unkempt, knocks back the booze and smokes like a trooper but it is he who tracks down Becker's apartment and the office building where the criminals are hunting Becker.
Yet even when Berkert is brought to light, Lang leaves space for uncertainty, the possibility that Beckert is putting on an act. As the criminals bay for his blood in a mock trial after his capture, he screams: "But can I, can I help it? Haven’t I got this curse inside me? The fire? The voice? The pain? Who knows what it feels like to be me?"
The original title for M was The Murderer Among Us, but it was changed should the Nazi party thought it was in reference to them. Ironically, Hitler wanted him to make propaganda films but Lang was forced to escape to America, fearing the consequences of having Jewish relations. Joining MGM, he made 21 movies including The Big Heat (1953), infamous for its brutality.
Lorre, who was Jewish, also left for America during the Thirties and forever typecasted for his role in M, went onto land plum roles in the likes of The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942).
Made in black and white, M, along with Metropols, was groundbreaking which influenced the films of many great directors such as Orson Welles and laid down the blueprint of psychopaths portrayal in films forever.
