M

This is a 1931 German mystery thriller film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre in his third screen role as Hans Beckert, a serial killer who targets children. 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 Lang’s character. Lang regarded the film as his magnum opus, and it is widely considered as on one of the greatest films of all time and an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction, quite definitely essential viewing for Film Group members.

Dir: Fritz Lang: Germany 1931 (111 mins)

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