Cheap M - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Peter Lorre) (Fritz Lang) Price

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Customer Reviews of M - Criterion Collection

"M"= N...for Nightmare!
Peter Lorre is astounding as HANS the candy-wielding, child serial killer of Fritz Lang's justly reputed expressionist masterwork in horror. This is a wicked head-trip into the psyche of THE BOGEYMAN. There is not a single murder shown; yet watching a little girl victim's mother preparing lunch and waiting for her daughter to NEVER return is terrifying. The frame where a TOY BALLOON wafts...like the murdered child's soul...into the heavens is archetypal and has to be among the most frightening IMAGES ever filmed. "M" is nightmare scripted at nightmare pace with claustrophobic camera work. It "corners" you in eerie pursuit of a psychotic pervert (yet again: it never explicitly glamorizes perversion in the sick/slick fashion of contemporary SLASHER films; or pretentious, would-be art films like SHADOW of the VAMPIRE).Lang compounds horror of the story with irony of forces of Evil(The criminal demimonde) hunting Lorre as an equally twisted act of self-preservation in face of ineptitude of the forces of Law.

The dizzying implication that Man's LAW cannot protect...nor is constructed to protect...GOOD, but merely exists to enforce ORDER, is presented in the classic Kafkaesque TRIAL where Lorre pleads "innocence" before a Court of Criminals. It is like The Devil being judged by demons in Hell. Fritz Lang's film...like his sci-fi allegory METROPOLIS...remains presciently ahead of its time as cinematic exploration of monstrous Evil. Lorre plays a Monster. He is a premeditated killer living by destroying children...incarnations of whatever innocence and goodness society affects to value...claiming: "it is not my fault!" "M" is the mark of The Beast. It is Fritz Lang's Id nightmare...

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Haunting and unforgettable masterpiece.
When sound was first introduced into film, the natural response from filmmakers was to use it as much as they possibly could. For Fritz Lang, however, it was to be used sparingly, more like punctuation then narrative. The story of 'M' should be familiar to those who have seen Spike Lee's magnificant 'Summer Of Sam'. There's a killer on the streets, kidnapping and slaying young children, and the police and the underworld of criminals have both set their sights on him. The film doesn't really concern itself with the killer, although he does have a few striking scenes (especially at the film's end where he pitifully tries to plead his case before the kangeroo court of criminals before him) but more so with the dividing line between criminals and police. Both want the killer caught for different reasons. The police want him to end the murders, the crooks want him caught so the cops will ease off their nightly patrols. The film makes these comparisons strikingly clear. It is a powerful film about desperation and fear, justice and innocence. Peter Lorre is remarkable in the role of the killer, his bug-eyed face twisting and contorting with considerable creepiness. His ending monologue is one of the greatest moments in the history of film. Fritz Lang's direction is near-perfect and again his use of sound is breathtaking. The shrill whistling of a tune has never been so frightening before. For all those interested in seeing just how great a film can be, this is one of those must-have films in your collection.

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Did Alfred Hitchcock have a mentor?
If he did it could have been Fritz Lang & his seminal talkie, M, made in 1931 & released in 1933. A deranged child murderer is loose in the city (played broadly & wonderfully by "newcomer," Peter Lorre).
The movie has scenes pitting citizen v. citizen, in accusations & counter accusations, near lynchings & mob hysteria. The police seem helpless & bereft of clues. Organized crimes seeks to find the murderer also. He's bad for business.
Crowd mentality is examined. It is a theme Lang returns to in later movies. His first American movie, Fury , (1936) deals with vigilantism & mob rule. This version, a poor print by the way, has English subtitles so your forced to pay attention. It was Lang's favorite film. It is a prototype, if you will, of the murder mystery genre. Kind of a precursor to Hitchcock's thrillers of the 40's & 50's.