Film · TMDB
8.1In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Released: 1931-05-11110 minDir: Fritz LangDrama, Thriller, Crime
Cast
- Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert
- Ellen Widmann as Frau Beckmann
- Inge Landgut as Elsie Beckmann
- Otto Wernicke as Inspector Karl Lohmann
- Theodor Loos as Inspector Groeber
- Gustaf Gründgens as Schränker
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Ratings · OMDb
IMDb
8.3/10
179,355 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
100%
- Rated
- Passed
- Awards
- 2 wins total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Fritz Lang
- Written by
- Fritz Lang , Thea von Harbou
- Produced by
- Seymour Nebenzal
- Starring
- Peter Lorre
- Cinematography
- Fritz Arno Wagner
- Edited by
- Paul Falkenberg
- Production company
- Nero-Film A.G.
- Distributed by
- Vereinigte Star-Film GmbH
- Release date
- 11 May 1931 ( 1931-05-11 )
- Running time
- 111 minutes
- Country
- Germany
- Language
- German
via Wikipedia infobox
Key dates
- Published
- 1931
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- Weimar Republic
- Original language
- German
- Main subject
- capital punishment
- Director
- Fritz Lang
- Screenwriter
- Paul Falkenberg
- Cast member
- Karl Elzer
- Composer
- Edvard Grieg
- Producer
- Seymour Nebenzal
Article
M is a 1931 German mystery thriller film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert, a serial killer who targets children, in his third screen role. Both Lang's first sound film and an early example of a procedural drama, M centres on the efforts of both a city's police force and its criminal syndicates to apprehend a serial child-murderer.
The film's screenplay was written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It features many cinematic innovations, including the use of long tracking shots and a musical leitmotif in the form of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", which is repeatedly whistled by Lorre's character. Lang regarded the film as his magnum opus, and it is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time and an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction.
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Connections
Categories
1930s psychological thriller films1931 crime drama films1931 films1931 German films1931 German-language filmsBanned films in Nazi GermanyFilms about capital punishmentFilms about organised crime in GermanyFilms about psychopaths and sociopathsFilms adapted into comicsFilms adapted into radio programsFilms directed by Fritz Lang