Review of M (1931) by Nancy C — 18 May 2013

3/5 --- I only heard that "M" was a great movie, never knew why, and after watching it...still dont know! it's in black and white, which I like [artistically], and some of the scenes are silent, a few had just the whistling [which was done well to implicate who did what/when/etc]. and I did like the way they marked him with an M, clever :).

I'm sure this film was great back in the 1930s [fact says it's Germany's first sound film, started the serial killer genre, and police procedurals], but of course 8 decades later, it's not so groundbreaking. definite props for use of some shots tho one is particularly strange [the one up between the inspector's legs when he's talking on the phone?]. to see crime scene procedures like matching fingerprints and handwriting analysis done manually without computers, wow - I cannot imagine anything getting solved back then...real police work, no it's just brainless "CSI" ;).

Good scenes showing a whole town's paranoia, when one of the children disappears - the frantic nervousness of the mother is framed well, and the end scene of the 'court in session' with the speech... the bible verse "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" kept popping into my head.

I do hate that the law doesn't always provide justice, and seeing the mob go the extra mile to do what needed to be done was very interesting just to basically save their own asses [businesses]. I also dont like the insanity plea... and believe in the death penalty :) overall, ok film - nothing I haven't seen before but of course, i'm viewing this 82 years later, but I can see how "M" pushed boundaries in the 30s.