Title: M (1931) AKA: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, Murderers Among Us Year: 1931 Original title: M Runtime: 1h 51mn Country: Germany Language: German Subtitles: English subs: (.sub/.idx) Genre: Crime | Drama | Film-Noir
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast
Peter Lorre ... Hans Beckert Ellen Widmann ... Frau Beckmann Inge Landgut ... Elsie Beckmann Otto Wernicke ... Inspector Karl Lohmann Theodor Loos ... Inspector Groeber Gustaf Gründgens ... Schränker Friedrich Gnaß ... Franz, the burglar Fritz Odemar ... The cheater Paul Kemp ... Pickpocket with six watches Theo Lingen ... Bauernfänger Rudolf Blümner ... Beckert's defender Georg John ... Blind panhandler Franz Stein ... Minister Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur ... Police chief Gerhard Bienert ... Criminal secretary Karl Platen ... Damowitz, night watchman Rosa Valetti ... Elisabeth Winkler, Beckert's landlady Hertha von Walther ... Prostitute
Plot / Synopsis Fritz Lang's classic early talkie crime melodrama is set in 1931 Berlin. The police are anxious to capture an elusive child murderer (Peter Lorre), and they begin rounding up every criminal in town. The underworld leaders decide to take the heat off their activities by catching the child killer themselves. Once the killer is fingered, he is marked with the letter "M" chalked on his back. He is tracked down and captured by the combined forces of the Berlin criminal community, who put him on trial for his life in a kangaroo court. The killer pleads for mercy, whining that he can't control his homicidal instincts. The police close in and rescue the killer from the underworld so that he can stand trial again in "respectable" circumstances. Some prints of the film end with a caution to the audience to watch after their children more carefully. Filmed in Germany, M was the film that solidified Fritz Lang's reputation with American audiences, and it also made a star out of Peter Lorre (previously a specialist in comedy roles!). M was remade by Hollywood in 1951, with David Wayne giving a serviceable performance as the killer.
Technical Specs Source: Internet Group/Ripper: Unknown Video Format: MPEG-4 Visual Video Bitrate: 783 Kbps Frame Rate: 23.976 fps Aspect Ratio:2.35:1 Resolution: 640 x 544 Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.094 Audio Format: mp3 Audio Bitrate: 128 Kbps Sampling rate: 48.0 KHz
M (1931)
