M (1931)

Fritz Lang’s M (1931) is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. A chilling hybrid of crime thriller, social drama, and proto-noir, it was Lang’s first sound film and remains his masterpiece. Set in an unnamed German city gripped by fear over a child murderer, M explores justice, mob rule, and moral decay with unnerving precision. What’s most extraordinary, however, is not just the boldness of its social commentary or the eerie resonance of its central character—but how Lang used sound, silence, shadow, and symbolism to reimagine the very language of cinema.

Plot Summary

The film opens with a haunting nursery rhyme, sung by children playing a game about a murderer. Already, Lang ties innocence and horror together in a way that will define the rest of the film. As the city reels from the murder of several children, fear and hysteria ripple through the public. Everyone is a suspect; paranoia infects daily life.

The killer, Hans Beckert (played with unsettling brilliance by Peter Lorre), is a lonely, compulsive predator who stalks young girls and is finally identified when he whistles Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King—a chilling motif that becomes a sonic fingerprint.

As the police ramp up their search and begin raiding the criminal underworld, organized crime leaders—aggrieved by the disruptions to their business—launch their own hunt for the murderer. Using beggars and street informants, they track Beckert, ultimately capturing him and placing him on a grotesque “trial” in an abandoned brewery. In a searing climax, Beckert pleads for his life, claiming he cannot control his murderous urges, unlike the criminals who choose their path. Just as he is about to be executed by the mob, the real police arrive, and Beckert is taken into custody.

The final lines, spoken by the mother of one of the victims, are a quiet, devastating reminder: “This won’t bring our children back. One has to keep closer watch over the children. All of you.”

Themes and Social Commentary

Justice vs. Vengeance

M offers one of cinema’s earliest and most complex meditations on justice. Who deserves to judge the guilty? The film creates an almost Brechtian opposition between state justice (slow, bureaucratic) and street justice (fast, emotional, lawless). The criminals, ironically, present themselves as the arbiters of morality when they hold Beckert’s kangaroo court. Yet the question hangs in the air: Are they any better?

The Psychology of Crime

Hans Beckert is not a monstrous caricature; he’s a tragic figure, sick and tormented. Lang does not ask for sympathy, but he does demand understanding. Lorre’s final monologue is both harrowing and horrifying, laying bare the impulses that drive his crimes. This was one of the first films to examine the mind of a murderer in psychological terms rather than moralistic ones, paving the way for generations of thrillers to come.

The Rise of Fascism and Collective Fear

Though not overtly political, M presciently mirrors the atmosphere of 1930s Germany. The mass paranoia, the desire for an authoritarian solution, the scapegoating and collective outrage—all echo the social currents that would soon give rise to Hitler’s regime. Lang’s deep mistrust of crowds and demagogic justice is embedded in every frame.

Surveillance and Control

Lang depicts a world in which no one is free from scrutiny—criminals watch the public, the public watches one another, and the state watches everyone. The film eerily anticipates the surveillance state, using cross-cutting between stakeouts, manhunts, and informants to show the collapsing line between law enforcement and authoritarianism.

Direction and Style

Fritz Lang’s command of visual storytelling is extraordinary. Drawing on his silent film mastery (notably Metropolis), Lang composes each shot with geometric precision, using shadows, stairwells, doorways, and urban architecture to isolate characters and create tension.

His use of sound, however, is revolutionary. M was Lang’s first sound film, and rather than rely heavily on dialogue, he used sound sparingly and innovatively. The whistling motif becomes a sonic symbol of death. Often, the most disturbing scenes occur in silence—forcing the viewer to imagine the horrors unfolding off-screen.

Key stylistic innovations include:

Off-screen action: The murder of Elsie Beckmann is never shown, only suggested by the ball rolling away and her balloon caught in wires.

Echoing footsteps and voiceovers: Lang uses ambient sounds and overlapping voices to suggest a city on edge.

Montage and cross-cutting: The parallel investigation by police and criminals is edited with exceptional rhythm, building a sense of escalating urgency and confusion.

Performances

Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert

In a career-defining performance, Lorre portrays the killer not as a grotesque monster, but as a man enslaved by his own demons. Small, effeminate, sweaty, and haunted, he brings an aching pathos to Beckert. His breakdown during the trial is among the most harrowing scenes in cinema history. M made Lorre a star—and typecast him forever as the soft-spoken, unsettling outsider.

Otto Wernicke as Inspector Lohmann

Wernicke plays the gruff but competent police inspector leading the investigation. He brings a balance of world-weariness and procedural focus, grounding the story in a more conventional detective narrative even as the film spirals into moral complexity.

Supporting Cast

The criminals and beggars form a memorable rogue’s gallery, vividly drawn despite minimal screen time. The mother of the murdered child, though she speaks little, provides the film’s emotional anchor—her grief is the moral weight that the rest of the story revolves around.

Legacy and Influence

M is foundational to the crime thriller, procedural drama, and psychological horror genres. It directly influenced:

The Third Man (1949) – atmospheric cityscapes and morally ambiguous pursuit

Psycho (1960) – humanizing a killer without justifying his crimes

Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2007) – procedural investigations haunted by elusive evil

Countless noir films and serial killer narratives

Lang’s vision of an urban landscape filled with dread and suspicion remains profoundly modern. The film's ending—offering no clear resolution, only sorrow and uncertainty—resonates with contemporary audiences conditioned to question institutional authority and easy moral binaries.

In 1934, M was banned by the Nazis, despite Lang’s wife Thea von Harbou being a party member. Lang himself fled Germany soon after, and M became both his German swan song and one of the final masterpieces of Weimar cinema.

Conclusion

M is not just a thriller, nor simply a psychological portrait of a killer. It is a searing critique of justice, society, and the human condition. Fritz Lang, working on the cusp of two eras—silent and sound, democracy and dictatorship—crafted a film that is haunting, profound, and unforgettable.

Nearly a century later, M still shocks and mesmerizes. With its haunting imagery, groundbreaking sound design, and morally knotty story, it continues to challenge viewers to confront uncomfortable truths: about crime, about fear, and about the thin veneer of civilization.

A staggering achievement—formally inventive, emotionally wrenching, and thematically timeless. Fritz Lang's M is essential cinema.