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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
Germany
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Year
1931
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Genre
Crime
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Alternative titles
- MURDERERS AMONG US Working
- M - EINE STADT SUCHT EINEN MÖRDER Alternative German
- Le MAUDIT Alternative French
Introduction
“M remains Lang’s most universally admired film. The complexity and originality of its structure and the power of its images and sound guarantee it a place in film history.”
Tom Gunning, The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and Modernity, 2001
Fritz Lang’s silent epics of intrigue and iniquity had all but invented the crime genre on film, and with M he laid the blueprint for every serial killer film that followed in its wake. While the opening scenes – when a schoolgirl is ominously presented with a balloon by a stranger in silhouette – create an atmosphere of dread, daringly the director later establishes the killer Hans Beckert as a figure of pathos.
Lang is more concerned with a clinical examination of the cross-section of Berlin society – the politicians, the businessmen, the organised criminals – whose self-serving interests are compromised by Beckert’s freedom. Lorre’s creepy, bulging-eyed performance as the killer who can’t help himself quickly attracted the attention of Hollywood, where he made a career playing sinister desperados.
An American remake was directed by Joseph Losey in 1951, but M’s DNA is detectable in everything from Peeping Tom (1959) to Zodiac (2007).
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Hans Beckert
Peter Lorre (uncredited)
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Frau Beckmann, the mother
Ellen Widmann (uncredited)
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Elsie Beckmann, the child
Inge Landgut (uncredited)
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Schränker
Gustaf Gründgens (uncredited)
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burglar
Gnaß, Friedrich (uncredited)
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cardsharp
Fritz Odemar (uncredited)
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pickpocket
Paul Kemp (uncredited)
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confidence man
Theo Lingen (uncredited)
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chief of police
Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur (uncredited)
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minister
Franz Stein (uncredited)
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Police Inspector Karl Lohmann
Otto Wernicke (uncredited)
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Police Inspector Groeber
Theodor Loos (uncredited)
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blind streethawker
Georg John (uncredited)
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defence counsel
Rudolf Blümner (uncredited)
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nightwatchman
Karl Platen (uncredited)
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police inspector's secretary
Gerhard Bienert (uncredited)
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barmaid of the Crocodile Club
Rosa Valetti (uncredited)
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prostitute
Hertha von Walther (uncredited)
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Credits
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Direction:
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A film by
Production:
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Production Company
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Producer
Nebenzahl, Seymour (uncredited)
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Unit Production Manager
Gustav Rathje (uncredited)
Writing:
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Screenplay
Thea von Harbou (uncredited)
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Screenplay
Fritz Lang (uncredited)
Photography:
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Supervising Photographer
Fritz Arno Wagner (uncredited)
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Camera
Fritz Arno Wagner (uncredited)
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Camera
Karl Vaß (uncredited)
Stills:
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Stills Photography
Horst von Harbou (uncredited)
Editing:
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Editor
Paul Falkenberg (uncredited)
Design:
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Art Director
Emil Hasler (uncredited)
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Set Decorator
Emil Hasler (uncredited)
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Set Decorator
Karl Vollbrecht (uncredited)
Music:
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Theme from 'Peer Gynt'
Edvard Grieg (uncredited)
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Theme from 'Peer Gynt' whistled by
Fritz Lang (uncredited)
Sound:
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Sound
Adolf Jansen (uncredited)
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