M (1931)

Calificación de los usuarios:

8.6/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Escritores:

Thea von Harbou (script) and
Fritz Lang (script)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

31 agosto 1931 (Sweden)

Género:

Crimen | Cine Negro | Suspenso

Plot:

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Criminal | Killer | Investigation | Beggar

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Perhaps the single greatest film I have ever seen

Reparto

Peter Lorre	...	Hans Beckert
Ellen Widmann	...	Frau Beckmann
Inge Landgut	...	Elsie Beckmann
Otto Wernicke	...	Inspector Karl Lohmann
Theodor Loos	...	Inspector Groeber
Gustaf Gründgens	...	Schränker
Friedrich Gnaß	...	Franz, the burglar
Fritz Odemar	...	The cheater
Paul Kemp	...	Pickpocket with six watches
Theo Lingen	...	Bauernfänger
Rudolf Blümner	...	Beckert's defender
Georg John	...	Blind panhandler
Franz Stein	...	Minister
Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur	...	Police chief
Gerhard Bienert	...	Criminal secretary

También conocida como:

Fritz Lang's M (Australia)
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (Alemania)
M - Mörder unter uns (Alemania) (working title)
Murderers Among Us
El vampiro negro (Argentina) [es]
M, el vampiro de Düsseldorf (Spain) [es]

Duración:

117 min | 110 min (2004 Criterion DVD edition) | France:118 min | Germany:105 min (2000 restored version) | Germany:108 min (re-release) | USA:99 min

País:

Alemania

Idioma:

Alemán

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.20 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Finland:K-12 (1995) | Finland:K-16 (1960) | Germany:(Banned) (1933-1945) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Germany:12 (re-rating 2006) | South Korea:15 (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (bw) (nf) | Germany:16 (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1933) | Portugal:17 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Not Rated | Norway:15 (1995) | Portugal:M/12 (re-rating)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Staaken, Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Compañía:

Nero-Film AG

Trivialidades:

Peter Lorre was Jewish and fled Germany in fear of Nazi persecution shortly after the movie's release. Fritz Lang, who was half Jewish, fled two years later.

Citas:

Franz, the burglar: [Franz is being tricked into thinking he killed the night watchman, and is going to jail for it] Please, Herr Kommissar! I'll tell you everything; even who we were looking for in that damned building.
Inspector Groeber: Really. Who?
Franz, the burglar: The child murderer, Herr Kommissar!

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Free Rainer (2007)

Banda de Sonido:

Le Halle du Roi de la Montagne

Perhaps the single greatest film I have ever seen

After seeing this, all I can think is "wow." Impeccably directed by Fritz Lang, and starring a young and plump Peter Lorre, M is perhaps the single greatest film I have ever seen. Lang created two film genres with this one film: Film-Noir, and the Crime/Psychological Thriller. The origins of Film-Noir can clearly be seen in this, as are the remaining traces of German Expressionism, brought about by the director that helped pioneer both movements.

M is about the search for a child murderer in Berlin, and as the story, and the search progress, the high profile murderer begins to inhibit the lives of everyone from the Police, to the criminals, to innocent bystanders who are accused of being the murderer for even the slightest contact with any child.

The most startling thing about this film is it's use of sound. M was Germany's first talkie, and is evident by the primitive sound recording. Characters can often be just barely heard (thank God for the subtitles), but regardless of the limitations of the technology in the medium, the use of sound is advanced even by today's standards. This film featured the first scene where two different parties are talking about the same thing, and the conversation is continued between the two groups (for the dramatic touch, the two parties were the Police, and the Criminals both intent on finding the murderer to save their reputation). It was also the first talkie to have a person heard off screen while an image unrelated to the dialog is displayed on screen (as seen early in the movie when Mrs. Beckman is heard calling for her child Elsie while an empty attic, an empty chair, and an empty stairway are shown). While Lang used sound heavily to enhance the mood and feel of his film, he also went without it (complete dead silence) on occasion to increase tension and create a paranoid mood.

Other cool tricks used by the Fritz Lang include heavy use of shadows (largely in the style of the yet to come Film-Noir genre), and the use of setting to create darker moods (evidence that Lang was at the head of the German Expressionist movement).

This is a must see film. Without this film we would probably not have the modern psychological/crime thrillers like Silence of the Lambe, and Se7en.

10/10