M

( 15 )

Overview

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...
See more details below
DVD (Special Edition / B&W)
$38.68
BN.com price
(Save 3%)$39.99 List Price
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up In Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Other sellers (DVD)
  • All (12) from $18.49   
  • New (10) from $30.25   
  • Used (2) from $18.49   

More About This Product

Overview

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.
Read More Show Less

Special Features

Disc One - The Film:; new, restored high-definition Digital transfer, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.19:1; Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI film classics volume on M, and Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife; New and improved English subtitle translation; Plus: a 32-page booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles; ; Disc Two - The Supplements:; Conversation with Fritz Lang, a 50-minute film by William Friedkin ; Claude Chabrol's M le maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol by Pierre-Henri Gibert about Lang's filmmaking techniques; Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history; Interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal; A physical history of M; Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
One of the most distinguished and technically accomplished early sound films, Fritz Lang's M (1931) revealed the expressive possibilities for combining sound and visuals, in a metaphorically loaded story about pre-Nazi Germany. Working from the true story of the Dusseldorf child murders, Lang matches a mother's anguished calls for her daughter with images of an empty stairwell and a lost balloon rather than show the killing, while the murderer's obsessive whistling becomes the calling card for his threatening presence. Beyond the use of sound, Lang takes a pessimistic view of German society, using editing to equate the police with the criminals, while Fritz Arno Wagner's fluid cinematography creates a gloomy night world of shadows and paranoid entrapment. Lang's documentary-like attention to the details of the search, combined with the absence of non-diegetic music, matches the stylization with an equally creepy element of realism. The killer may be sick, but the society pursuing him isn't that much better. A worldwide success and a star-maker for Peter Lorre, M influenced movies from those of Orson Welles to the American film noir of the 1940s; Lang himself left Nazi Germany for Hollywood in 1933. The 111-minute version features an added courtroom ending. The movie was remade by Joseph Losey in 1951 as an allegory of Cold War-era Communist "witch hunts."
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • Release Date: 12/7/2004
  • UPC: 037429197820
  • Original Release: 1931

    • Rating:

  • Source: Criterion
  • Presentation: Special Edition / B&W
  • Language: Deutsche
  • Time: 1:50:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 13,566

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Peter Lorre Franz Becker
Ellen Widmann Madam Becker
Inge Landgut Elsie
Gustaf Gründgens Schraenker
Friedrich Gnass Burglar
Fritz Odemar The Cheater, Dynamiter
Paul Kemp Pickpocket
Theo Lingen Bauernfaenger
Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur Chief of Police
Franz Stein Minister
Otto Wernicke Inspector Karl Lohmann
Theodor Loos Police Commissioner Groeber
Rudolf Blumner Barrister
Georg John Blind Beggar
Karl Platen Nightwatch
Gerhard Bienert Secretary
Rose Valetti Landlady
Hertha Von Walther Prostitute
Heinrich Gotho
Lotte Loebinger Isenta
Klaus Pohl
Paul Rehkopf
Hugo Döblin
Ilse Furstenberg
Heinrich Gretler
Gunther Hadank
Gunther Neumann
Leonard Steckel Karchow
Otto Waldis
Rolf Wanka
Technical Credits
Fritz Lang Director, Screenwriter
Paul Falkenberg Editor, Screenwriter
Edvard Grieg Score Composer
Thea von Harbou Screenwriter
Emile Hasler Production Designer
Adolf Jansen Screenwriter
Seymour Nebenzal Producer
Karl Vollbrecht Production Designer
Fritz Arno Wagner Cinematographer
Read More Show Less

Scene Index

Side #1 -- Disc One: The Film
1. Elsie Beckmann [8:17]
2. Who Is the Murderer? [5:43]
3. Investigations [7:10]
4. "Show Me Your Papers" [8:25]
5. Cops Everywhere [12:41]
6. Interfering With Business [4:47]
7. Hans Beckert's Apartment [9:36]
8. Peer Gynt Suite [2:27]
9. The Mark [2:00]
10. Abandoned Offices [5:20]
11. Surrounded [9:18]
12. Alarm [2:30]
13. Interrogation [2:50]
14. The Hideout [9:25]
15. Kangaroo Court [3:45]
16. Color Bars [16:34]
Side #2 -- Disc Two: The Supplements
1. 1917-1918 [12:05]
2. 1925 [6:50]
3. 1931 [10:19]
4. 1933 [18:35]
5. 1975 [1:35]
Read More Show Less

Menu

Side #1 -- Disc One: The Film
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Off
      On
      Index
         Lang and Sound
         Mass Contagion
         The Abstract City
         Ernst Gennat
         A Culture of Nervousness
         The Trauma of WWI
         Refuse
         Peer Gynt
   Subtitles
      On
      Off
Side #2 -- Disc Two: The Supplements
   Conversation With Fritz Lang
      Play
      Index
   Claude Chabrol's M Le Maudit
      Play
      Chabrol Interview
   Harold Nebenzal Interview
      Play
   Paul Falkenberg's Classroom Tapes
      Play
   A Physical History of M
   Stills Gallery
      Index
         The Crime
         The Search
         Capture
         The Trial
         Posters and Documents
   Subtitles
      On
      Off
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 15 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(13)

4 Star

(2)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
Sort by: Showing all of 15 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    A Haunting Masterpiece to remember

    M, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre is one of the seminal films in the development of the arts in the time before World War II in Germany. The Edvard Grieg music will stay in your mind long after viewing M. It is an incredible example of German Expressionist filmmaking that ever after 80+ years is still amazining moving. -- It is a must for any film student or for anyone who just enjoys film as art.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted October 1, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    M

    Fritz Lang, a well established film director in the silent age of cinema, does not disappoint in his first "talky" film... While his visuals remained just as astonishing as in his silent films, the sound was practically a character itself. The sounds were not just a background piece to this film, but used brilliantly to establish themes and drop subtle (and not-so-subtle) hints to the viewer.

    "M" is a morally ambiguous film that deals with very difficult subject matter - one that is arguably still taboo today. It is a deep examination into the mind of a serial killer and also into the minds of a town throw into a frenzy...

    Peter Lorre certainly steals the show, but fantastic performances are not hard to come by in this movie... as displayed by the masterful Gustaf Gründgens.

    Just check it out... Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 27, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 9, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 4, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 8, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 16, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 25, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 26, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 12, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 14, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 17, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 19, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 15 Customer Reviews