FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
M (1931)
DVD Features: Commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI volume on M &
Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife.
Conversation with Fritz Lang (50 Min.), directed by William Friedkin.
Claude Chabrol's "M le Maudit," a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol.
Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film. Interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of
M producer Seymour Nebenzal. "A Physical History of M," a comparison of aspect ratios & the French language version. Stills gallery. Restored high-definition
digital transfer. Booklet (32 pages) with an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the
script for a missing scene & contemporaneous news articles
A string of murders force the police and crime lords to work together to smoke out the
slayer of young girls, Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre). Even the homeless pitch in, spying on
all those who approach the young. Eventually, the film becomes less about finding the
pedophile and more about which side of the law will prevail.
A character study of the rarest form, director Fritz Lang deconstructs Hans Beckert not
by showing us what he does, but what he forces others to do. Lorre gives an undeniably
resonating performance. His portrayal of Beckert, a
man who has long come to terms with the monster that he is, serves as an incredibly
lucid backdrop for Lang's greater study - society's self-righteousness as its own worst
enemy. M obviously lacks a hero. What can be made of the fact that the killer is
caught by a group including a burglar, a beggar, a pickpocket, and a cop? The harsh
reality that it "takes one to know one" is as alarming as the haunting tune (Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King") Beckert whistles as he searches for his next victim.
DVD Extras: A group of lectures from editor Paul Falkenberg and a short
remake of the film that aired on French television in the early ‘80s provide the most
entertaining set of extras. They are a great counterpart to the dry, theoretical
commentary from German film scholars Eric Rentschler and Anton Kaes.
An interview with Lang conducted by director William Friedkin is a compelling take on
the impact of M as well as what is perhaps the director's most famous film,
Metropolis. An interview with Harold Nebenzal (son of producer Seymour
Nebenzal) sticks mainly to the film’s financing. Michael Belkewitch
|