M
A city of four and a half million people can easily be scared; just let a child predator loose on their streets. Fritz Lang knew this very well on the back of several cases throughout Germany were they struggled with it, and 80 years later his movie on the subject holds a well deserved masterpiece status.
The opening scenes alone are well worth the hype. From the kids singing in the streets about the man in black to the mothers worrying and then Elsie Beckmann. The acting involved in smaller parts like Elsie's is one of the main reason this works so much better for me than another old movie with masterpiece status for many, Bicycle Thieves did. Here Lang bring class to the smaller parts as well, while the amateur support of Bicycle Thieves remained amateurs in everybody's heads.
There's of course a lot of other reasons this works a lot better than a movie I gave a 7/10. Lang have a stunning child murderer in Peter Lorre, and dare to give him a balanced life with emotions all over the place. M also brings a town in terror, and we get to see many scenes where the nerve plays as much part of the scene as the dialogue and acting. Add a whistling that bring to mind many great scores later used in the industry, thieves protecting their domain and a bunch of smaller details, and you got yourself a must see experience with well deserved status. I simply loved it, and look forward to get to know Lang better in the future.
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