M

"M" is possibly one of the finest Fritz Lang movies ever made.  Lang, like Hitchcock, had a very strong vision of how he wanted his film to be, and how to get it.  The attention to detail pays off in an incredible finished product.  It's a shame that after his escape to America he ran into trouble for making pro-British films.  His entire Hollywood era films seem to lack the essential feel of his earlier European films.  Anyway "M" was one of his, and Peter Lorres,  last German films.

The film is set against the backdrop of Germany in a depression era, a credible snapshot of the time.  The foreground story is twofold, it's a man hunt film with a murderer on the loose, the police's ineptness bringing the thieves guild into the chase, the second layer is an exposition of morality and amorality, a look at a psychologically disturbed killer with a compulsion to kill.

This film has all the classic elements of noir in its presentation, moody atmospheric lighting, crime bosses, chases, brawls, raids.  This film also is early sound, and Lang plays with what sounds he chooses to include to build the scenes.


I believe this film is the first of several where Otto Wernicke appears as Inspctor Lohmann, the Lohmann character being in three Mabuse films.