Review of M (1931) by Pushkar P — 06 Jul 2010

Before Germany gave us Easy-Bake Ovens, we were treated to cinematic genius and sheer gold in the form of Fritz Lang's haunting suspense film M. When a string of children are abducted, assaulted, and murdered, the city gets turned over by its entire population as police work around the clock trying to snuff out the despicable killer.

People start rioting and blaming anyone who seems remotely guilty. What's worse, just about every criminal has been forced to go into hiding as they are constantly raided and arresting, that is, until they gather to conspire a plan to catch the killer themselves.

Meanwhile, the police are working harder and harder with what little clues they have. Eventually, both parties narrow it down to Hans Beckert (played by the iconic and unforgettable Peter Lorre), a loner who constantly whistles a haunting version of Le Halle du Roi de la Montagne and has a penchant for picking up kids and buying them candy before he does his dastardly deeds.

In a clever way of marking the killer, the film gets its highly simplistic, yet effectively original title, and the hunter becomes the hunted. I can honestly not say enough great things about M. It's a definitive classic that EVERY film enthusiast must see.

It's one of the first subtly horror films to be made with it's bold content and creepy tension, not to mention an intense and riveting finale. This movie is amazing and one of those masterpieces that just CANNOT be disliked.

..so much so, that I can confidently say that anyone who would dislike such a film is most certainly moronic and/or suffering from down syndrome. Sorry for the pretentious attitude, but it's the truth.

This film is amazing. Even more surprisingly is how gorgeous this black & white film looks on Blu-ray. Did not see that coming. Great movie. A MUST watch for film enthusiasts...no exceptions or excuses.

Utterly flawless.