Review of M (1931) by Jennifer S — 29 Oct 2010

I was expecting a little more from "M" given awesomeness of Metropolis (also directed by Fritz Lang), but I just couldn't get into it. A friend I was watching it with pointed out that M is more about the other criminals who band together to hunt down a child murderer who is terrorizing the city, than about the murderer (played by Peter Lorre) himself.

When the police start cracking down on the other criminals, from organized mobs to petty thieves, these other baddies get together to find and stop the child killer. And the whole movie is about their search.

And unfortunately, this plot simply did not engage me or hold my attention. I will say that Lorre's acting is excellent, especially a scene where he sees a child and you can visually see his struggle not to give in to his desire to abduct and kill the kid.

It's disturbing, but also make the character a tiny bit sympathetic--and it brings up the question of how much control and intent a sadistic killer has over his actions.