Review of M (1951) by Martin T — 01 Jul 2010
The 1951 Joseph Losey remake. I probably wouldn't have bothered with this if it wasn't on the "Quinessential Noirs" list. It's actually not so bad, although it doesn't live up to Lang's original.
The one area of improvement is the pacing. A full half-hour shorter, it's relatively short on "dead space" by comparison. Most of the other changes, however, are either dumbing it down or unnecessary.
I won't bother listing all the similarities and differences, but here are a few examples. In terms of details, the distinctive balloon is exactly the same... but gone is "Hall of the Mountain King", replaced by some generic, forgettable tune.
Some shots are near exact duplications, others start out the same but morph into something different (usually not for the better, although the photography is still quite good). The film is loaded with quite a bit more Freudian psychology, which doesn't help and arguably hurts.
The "trial" scene is recontextualized in a way that's a somewhat interesting switch, but ultimately not as effective. And finally, because we're dealing with the production code, the big mob boss has to get what's coming to him.
Groan. Some of the characters are pretty silly, and David Wayne is far less compelling than Peter Lorre. Still, the tighter pacing and overall atmosphere makes it not a complete waste of time.
This review of M (1951) was written by Martin T on 01 Jul 2010.
M has generally received positive reviews.
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