M

M “anticipate[s] what was to happen on a large scale unless people could free themselves from the specters pursuing them” (Kracauer 222). During the political stabilization years of the Dawes Plan, German society was at least stable. After the American stock market crash of 1929, a film about a child murderer opens some eyes on to current philosophies and associations.

In M, the horrifying recreation of a child murderer is presented. While the police try to find this horror, the criminal underworld also feels the pinch of the control and tries to catch the horror themselves. In a way, the two extremes team together to stop the greater evil. And in this way, because of the absolutely chilling child murders (which really had me freaked out on a personal level), the audience roots for the criminals. When they catch the murderer and bring him into the kangaroo court, the audience is a bit upset yet feels like the man deserves it. Police come and everything is rectified. Wasn’t the problem mutual? Didn’t everybody get what they wanted? As the police and criminals mix, the lines become blurred. This foreshadows a regime that made Lang change the title from Murderer Among Us to the more inconspicuous M. Maybe Lang realized more directly what he was trying to accomplish because of this.

This film then highlights the power of mob rule and how it can come into acceptance rather easily. The unspeakable evil with the ordinary face can become anything if both sides want to see it eradicated. Lang himself had Jewish relations and Lorre himself was Jewish. Perhaps they were highlighting this.


The use of sound made profound breakthroughs with M. Almost Pavlovian, the use of whistling indicating that the murderer is again at work, causes the audience to cringe. These types of advances make the film superior.
With editing and cutting as the police and criminal underworld discuss their plans, it tends to blur together. One cannot tell easily who is police and who is in the underworld.
The cry of "Elsie!" as the horrifying images of the ball and the balloon in solitude completely intensify the shock and torment of the mother.
There is a scene where the police are scouring the streets in silence. As the police pass an alley, suddenly out of nowhere a whistle screams out. This made me jump out of my seat.
The whistling was also necessary to capture the criminal. The blind beggar identifies the whistle. Then when the noise that gives away his hiding place sounds, the audience again jumps.
Peter Lorre's own testimony about why he follows the inner demons could only be done well by an actor saying them. If this had been a silent film, it would not have been as passionate. We hear the inner anguish and almost feel sorry for him.