And...the blind man uses SOUND to solve the murder. There's some great, almost meta, stuff happening here with film language.

The kangaroo court scene is one of the all-time great scenes in world cinema. It truly forces you to consider both human nature and the nature of evil.

The fact that M is in black and white is not a disadvantage. It's the opposite: if color film had already been used in cinema (not sure if it was invented yet), it would probably make the stiff theatrical acting more noticeable. B&W is a graphic means of stylization, so it works better in combination with the exaggerated facial expressions, and also serves to underline the "good vs. evil" confrontation visually.

The editing in this movie is also phenomenal.

Some of the techniques Lang used I think still are powerful today. They was we learn of the demise of Elsie Beckmann is so subtle it is painful. I also thought the intercutting between the meetings of the police and the criminals was fantastic. In some ways the technical limitations are noticeable, but Lang overcame them in a film that is still powerful today.

It's amazing how enjoyable, visually stunning and sincere Metropolis, M and The Testament of Dr Mabuse still are. After moving to the United States, the Hollywood studio system and the Hayes code had a clear effect over Fritz Lang's creative output. Sadly, with a few notable exceptions, Hollywood has always been a creative cesspool meant to produce money, not art.

Some of the best movies ever created aren't always in English. Nor are they always in effervescent color. They're often in black-and-white, spoken in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Japanese with subtitles. That's why I love channels exploring lesser known films from the early years of sound. A blueprint of cinema yet to come

Great video, but it should be mentioned that the first 10 minutes of this masterpiece are worth whole books of cinema school. The shadow approaching the little girl while she´s bouncing her ball against a "assassin wanted" poster on a column is bone chilling. The mother crying for her daughter, followed by the silent images of the empty lunch table, empty staircase, empty garden as the child´s ball rolls out, the balloon trapped by the electric cables. This movie touches highs unreached even today, 90 years on. I have difficulties calling it "movie" as it is much more, but I understand you have to know Germany, its psyche, its atavic angst, to really get it.

I had the pleasure seeing M in a local cinema a few year's ago, easily my favourite movie going experience ever.

Let's not forget the choice of actors for the roles. Amazing

I watched this movie last night, high on an edible but with no second screen to distract me. I missed out on some dialogue occasionally, but I was never confused and I was deeply engrossed in the unraveling of the plot. The acting was wonderful. Peter Lorre and Gustaf Gründgens did the most phenomenal jobs I've ever witnessed. The direction, camera work and audio were also executed flawlessly.

Fritz Lang was Stanley Kubrick before Stanley Kubrick.

I found this at a local movie store a few weeks ago, a lucky find, needless to say it was a brilliant movie and this is a brilliant essay. One thing that struck me with the film was the climate that surrounds the setting, being the Weimar Government and its slow decent into financial chaos. Considering the rise of the nazi party coincided with this film being made as well, truly makes it one of the bravest movies in history. Wasn't the original title 'Murderer within us' ? That takes guts...I think it was years ahead of its time, as many Fritz Lang movies are, due to the whole agenda around a child murderer can give... This would be hard to pull of today, yet somehow he transcends the moral values of the audience and make us think about the nature of 'evil'The use of audio truly helped create a living world within the film, but another thing that I noticed was how alive and sprawling the streets where at times. In old 30s movies, I notice that the streets are deserted, in particular early James Cagney crime flicks such as public enemy which was the same year ? There are no to little life on the sets, which this film doesn't really suffer with...I'm so happy to have discovered your channel, just looking at your uploads makes me smile, Keep on making great content !

You know it's an oldie when citizen kane references it as a classic.

Beautiful essay. I always feel most people ignore the beauty and importance of classic film nowadays.

This film was produced by Nero Film, my great grandfather's and great uncle's film company. Their names were Henry Nebenzahl and Seymour Nebenzal, Americans who moved to Berlin early in the century but who had to leave after Goebbels threatened them. Goebbels also threatened Lang and Lorre. The Nazis liked the film so they removed the names of the Jewish producers and their production company, names that were not back into the credits until the remastered version.FYI, poducers are the people who hire the directors and actors, and my family has owned to rights to M for almost 90 years. Other family members who worked for Nero Film during that time were my grandfather, as well as my grandmother's cousin, screenwriter and author Curt Siodmak ("Wolf Man" and "Donovan's Brain"). By the way,

This movie makes me feel lucky to be German.

Peter Lorre's performance was absolutely fantastic

You should see Applause (1929) by Rouben Mamoulian, Hallelujah (1929) by King Vidor, The big house (1930) by George Hill, City Streets (1930) by Rouben Mamoulian; films that offer much avant garde ideas about sound in movies, before M by Lang. The real legacy in M is mantain a continued dialogue from a scene to another scene but by different characters in different locations. A great achievement. But in another devices, these already were made in various forms before (as in the films already mentioned). And there are another classic made almost at same time which M, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Rouben Mamoulian, that is real challenge to the tecnology of the time and a triumph of the imagination over the limitations of the medium. Much more creative about sound than M.

My favorite film of all time... THANK you for this analysis! You express it far better than I ever could.

So well done. Thanks for making and posting this. This is one of my favorite movies of all time.

For me, one of the more intriguing messages is, literally, in the last minute of the film and it's questioning of capital punishment. Damn good movie. Damn fine.

Small correction regarding the credits: Peer Gynt is the name of the play the song originated from, not the composer. That being said, great video.

Very astute observation on the "one person surrounded by other people" comparison. I just saw the film last night. Before than i thought I'd seen the best crime/mystery/noir films. This was by bar the most profound.

i just randomly watched it on youtube not too long ago and was immediately hooked. definitely holds up as one of the all time great films

This is exactly what I was thinking when I first saw this film. You know it's a good video essay when the intangible thoughts in your mind are put into words.

Awesome movie and - as always - a very insightful and comprehensive analysis of both the movie and its pioneering techniques. It has "origins of film noir" written all over it. After all it depicts a decadent, early 1930s Berlin. Great dissection as always!

This film inspired my second short film for filmschool. Great film and great performance!

One of my favorite movies

Found this film through Team Fortress 2 fan film "Emesis Blue", and I liked the detail that the name used for medic in the movie was Fritz Ludwig [no clue if that's his name in tf2 cannon but fuck it], like Fritz Lang that is credited and the maker of "M". It was just a nice detail to me and I'm glad I caught it.

This movie was amazing my first time seeing it and wow peter Lorre performance was phenomenal this movie really shows you what the true meaning of morality is and the court scene is the most powerful scene in the movie.

The way he portrays Elsie Beckmann's death? Oh my god forget about it. I love almost everything about this movie. It's interesting because this film really doesn't have a main protagonist. We're just jumping from nameless mob member to nameless mob member in the thick of this awful crime wave. In a way, Beckert is our only real, fleshed out character. The film favors the process of finding the killer than it does with presenting us with a character arc but yet it somehow still ends up being fascinating. Just a brilliant film. I want the Criterion.

Fantastic video. Subscribed right away!

Fantastic analysis. Thank you. Also, my guess is the film was one of the first to use Freudian-type psychological themes (sexual compulsion, perversion, guilt, etc.) that were so popular later in the 1940s.

just finished watching M for the first time. I enjoyed it and can see why it's highly regarded. The very thought provoking question that the film brings up (what to do with the criminally insane) reminded me of the same conundrum that comes up in Batman.

I've seen this several times. I was taking German in college at the time. I really enjoy the parallel efforts to catch the "kinder murderer."

Great video well done M is a great movie i also love Metropolis

Very good look at this film! I mention this film in my documentary when looking at the innovation of sound- he uses silence very well in the film too. Another two great films known for great sound in early film include The Blue Angel and L'Atalante. Check em out if you haven't.

It's nice that I can understand everything :) (I'm from Germany)

never saw it but after your review i sure will thanks

A truly brilliant film.

Do you think Coppola used the meeting of the criminals as a model for the meeting of the heads of the 5 families in Godfather Part 1?

Thank you for this! Peter Lorre! I was so throw off I didn’t know he was German but you can’t miss those eyes! Some people think movies are too old if there from the 90s! I can’t stand it. I will check this out

Have you seen Hitchcock's Murder (1930) and Blackmail (1929)? He also pioneered in using sounds artistically during the advent of sound movies.

I found this out through emesis blue

One thing I really enjoy about M that is mostly absent from modern movies is that it is a simple story explored from lots of different perspectives. You've got the police, the underground gangsters, the beggars, the aggrieved families, the victims, random citizens on the street and the murderer himself. Some of these characters overlap, but mostly none of them know each other. It's told from the point of view of God, eavesdropping on the world.

This movie really gets your brains going. If you haven’t seen it you should!!

what is that Song called again. the one that he whistles?

And it also has a great comics adaption by Jon J Muth.

Someone may already have pointed this out, I only scrolled down so far. I believe that's actually Lang whistling; Lorre apparently couldn't.

Thanks for the tip. I will watch it. In der Originalfassung. Because for me, it is not in a foreign language 😃

Its also difficult for germans to understand the dialog dou to audio quality(speaking from experianc)

Can you do a another fritz Lang great films metropolis that movie is so good I like the themes and symbolism in that f movie it so good

are there any Friz lang movie you would recommend when he came to america

Emesis blue lead me here

I liked M as much as Metropolis..However, I think Metropolis is far underappreciated in its societal commentary and often blown off as just and early visual candy sci fi movie.

Fucking love this movie

Fritz Lang not Läng

It is a good movie (although I hate to read subtitles as it takes my gaze away from the expressions of the actors).

Beckett gets tortured by his compulsions until he gives in , then gets tortured by his conscience afterward . While I believe putting him to death might be release for him , its clear he was being judged by people no better than he .

Four years earlier, _Metropolis_ came out, innovating silent cinema

this movie is so diffrent and it feels so modern...i wonder they never make it new....totally dark movie

yo emesis blu

I hate people who say "i won't watch it because it's not in English, it'd old or it's black and white". I hate them. They are losing so, so many amazing things for this prejudice.

I have tried to watch this movie and the remake from the fifties, it's too disturbing, had to turn it off.

Check out a millennial perspective of M here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/sLWhrJB608iynY0.html

I love that much of the film's narrative sort of coincides with the rise of Nazi Germany.

Thanks for this. At least it gives me insight as to why many seem to think this a masterpiece. I do not. It would appear it is getting some bonus points for being groundbreaking in its production. It wasn't enough for me. If appreciation for this film is only achieved after research into its technological availabilities and pioneering techniques, then is it the film that is great, or the film-making? For me the film was too long in unimportant parts and too short in important parts. There wasn't much suspense in terms of knowing how he'd get caught... the whistling was crammed down our throats to the point of annoyance. Anyway, if you like a movie because you could hear car horns from off screen, or the camera panned from one subject to another, then I guess you simply have a different set of criteria for what makes for a night of entertainment, and that's OK.

why did you have to spoil the movie??????

90 years ago and still relevent

My problem with the film is that... well, it's just not very entertaining. I found myself a bit interested the first 20 minutes, after which I realized that there wasn't going to be any music in the movie, which I was kind of waiting for. One of the most important aspects of a good movie is a fitting score. There are exceptions to this rule of course (12 Angry Men, No Country for Old Men), but for M it just didn't work having no music. I simply wasn't invested enough. I won't deny that it is an _bold_ movie though, perhaps it even is for today...

I think this cinematography was added to create depth and tone to better call saul the final series completing the breaking bad universe. It's what I thought was very compelling about bringing a series to its climax. To highlight the epgy of filmmaking.🎯🧧