Day 30: M (1931)
In “M,” director Fritz Lang delivers a bleak tale of serial murder that, in some ways, focuses more on the moral choices of its victims than in its antagonist. In the film, we are given a pre-WWII Berlin jumpy and scared with the presence of a child murder in their midst. Though we, the audience, know early on of the killer’s identity, the city is clueless and, in a flurry of accusatory chaos, they begin pointing fingers at all who even remotely fit the killer’s description. It is this hysteria that makes up the majority of the film’s content and its engrossing to watch how it effects both the city’s moral and social classes.
From the very first shot we understand the mood of the film as a group of Berlin’s youngsters dance in a circle and sing ominously about a child murderer coming to get them. Quickly they are silenced by a nervous parent, who has heard the song one too many times, and we come to understand that this boogeyman of song is more than just a simple tune, but an ongoing reality- a still at large presence that has the town on alert and the police on their toes.
When another child winds up dead, the town’s anxiety reaches a fever pitch and the police double their efforts by raiding much of the underworld as part of their search. This angers the non-violent criminals of the city, who realize the heat will be on them until the killer is brought down, and so they team up as well in an attempt to find this killer- a thorn in their side. With both the police and the criminals against him, the killer, Hans Beckert (played by the always chilling Peter Lorre in his first break-out role) will have to run for his life as the predator has now become the prey.
One of the best aspects of Lang’s “M” stems from its interesting character study of Lorre’s child killer Hans Beckert. In him, we have an archetype rarely used- the victimized menace. Though he starts out as the film’s major threat, by the third act we find him almost sympathetic (I said almost) as he cowers in the shadows, hiding from the bigger criminals who pursue him. And later, as Beckert finds himself finally confronted by a room full of his pursuers, we watch him beg for life, justice, and understanding as he believes his obsession with murdering girls an uncontrollable act. With such a character, we are given the opportunity to think on the dichotomy of responsibility and insanity and question what the balance of both must be for execution to seem justified.
A special note should be made about the technical aspects of the film as well. “M” was Lang’s first attempt at a “talkie” and he uses the new aspect of a soundtrack to great effect. For one, Beckert constantly whistles “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1,” and, by doing so, we always know when he is around. In one scene, a child is at play and we simply hear the whistling of “Mountain King” over everything else. With that alone, we know Beckert is close- ever lurking. Nowadays, sound and film are considered synonymous, but back then, such a simple detail would have felt truly chilling.
Fritz Lang’s “M” starring the great Peter Lorre, is a masterpiece of suspense, that focuses its lens closely on the concept of societal unrest and how a lingering terror can affect all those in it’s shadow.
To learn more about “M,” check out Criterion’s page here.
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