alr

M

Screening on Film
Directed by Fritz Lang.
With Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Ellen Widmann.
Germany, 1931, 35mm, black & white, 99 min.
German with English subtitles.

Based on accounts of an actual murder case, Lang’s landmark early-sound-era film eschews his previous expressionistic techniques to depict the growing agitation of a town in which a child murderer is on the loose with stylized realism. M captures the prevailing sense of despair and corruption of Germany in the early thirties in its portrayal of a pathetic killer (Brecht-trained actor Lorre in his film debut) hounded by an odd alliance of pursuers: both the chief of police and the highly organized criminal underworld.

Part of film series

Read more

Masterworks of World Cinema

Other film series with this film

Read more

Treasures from the Harvard Film Archive: J–M

Read more

The Dark Worlds of Fritz Lang – Part One

Read more

Classics of World Cinema

Read more

Peter Lorre. A Sinister Centennial

Read more

The Complete Fritz Lang

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

Read more

Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

Read more

Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy

Read more

The Shochiku Centennial Collection

Read more

Planet at 50

Read more

The Yugoslav Junction Continues!

Read more

Theo Anthony, Subject to Review

Read more

The Ideal Cinematheque of the Outskirts of the World

Read more

From the collection – Satyajit Ray