05/16/10 - M

M (1931, 110 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/

This is one of the beginning and defining films of the film noir genre so I was excited to check it out. Being from Germany and 1931 it was a little old so I was cautious to see how it held up almost eighty years later.

The film mainly follows Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert. Beckert is a child murderer and this begins a citywide manhunt run by the police. After eight months of the police hounding everyone, the criminals of the city are fed up and begin their own manhunt. The film culminates with the criminals capturing Beckert and then the police discovering them while recapturing Beckert and putting him through a real trial.

I was reminded of Stalag 17 as I watched this and the reason is because of the pacing. M starts off somewhat slow with not much happening. But after only about 35 minutes or so we are off and running with not a moment wasted from there on out. I don't really think of movies from 1931 as having the same breakneck pacing as something from the modern times. However it really gives them a timeless quality when they do so this really makes the movie amazing. The tension is high as for about the last 30 minutes I was on the edge of my seat.

The next highlight of the film is Peter Lorre in the main role. There's a bunch of secondhand characters here but the film is based around Lorre. Lorre's memorable buggy eyes are the perfect thing for this film as he is constantly on the run. Hiding in excellently casted shadows his eyes capture the exact amount of light to stand out with a pure expression of fear and terror. I mean, his acting is great as well (more on this later) but he does a lot of acting with his eyes (as he probably always does since they're so big) and it just really works well here. Also, the character himself is handled really well. I wouldn't think a child molester would be an acceptable topic in 1931 but they approach it from almost a modern angle. It contributes even more to that timeless feel I mentioned above.

Next, M has one of the best uses of shadows ever. This kind of thing is what the film noir genre is known for and I now see why M is one of the front-runners. Being in black and white to begin with the film has to use shadows to create even starker contrast and this works well. I found it best used when Beckert was hiding from the criminals in shadows like I mentioned above. Also, there's a perpetual smoke floating about everywhere which adds to the tension the movie already has created really well. Besides just the shadows, the camerawork was equally solid. It didn't really move much in most scenes as it instead just framed them perfectly.

Finally, M concludes with a drama section. Up until this point it's pretty much been thriller as Beckert has been on the run from the criminals. Then we get this trial and we give him his moment to shine. Though because it was in German I couldn't really understand some of the little things in his line delivery, Lorre still does a great job just letting all this anguish flow out of him as he complains about his problem. Again the film is timeless here with his handling of the child molestation issue but Lorre's acting is what stands out for me. With the thriller portion of the film we've wanted him to be caught and captured. But now after his monologue we begin to question if just murdering him then and there is really the best choice. So after 100 minutes of movie watching we're suddenly flipped upside-down. It's just really great. However, the only thing I really just didn't like was how the final scene is him about to be sentenced by the court. It cuts to this lady commanding them to forever remember the children. It's a little bit of a cheesy ending but I also realize that they couldn't actually deliver the sentence (making the audience make up the punishment is really a better choice). I just feel this final scene could've been handled better while still giving the same message.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. M is just like Stalag 17 in how much it impressed me. I feel I understand a bit more film noir now from giving this a watch.