M (Fritz Lang, 1931)
The undertitle for Fritz Lang´s M is A Ctiy looks for a Murderer (Ein Stadt sucht einen Mörder), at first we don´t see him but recognize his presence even more intensely through his compulsive whistling of Edvard Grieg´s Hall of the Mountain King. The film handles the uproar of a city left in terror by a children serial killer and the citizen´s unity in hunting him down. The police guard the streets and angry mobs attack anyone who speaks to a strange child. The organized crime bosses even join in on the search since their job has become almost impossible with the more visible police force on the street. They organize a patrol with the beggars and drifters on the street who look out for any suspicious activity or strange characters. The city is unified in the search but divided in punishment, the citizens want revenge while the police want a trial. The only certainty is the murderer will strike again.
The film was made in Germany, late in the Weimar Republic and depicts as Lang´s earlier film Metropolis (1927) a division in the city between the rich and the poor, an overworld and an underworld, that is compelled to reach an agreement. It was made in the early sound era, where develpoments in sound were very different between Europe and America (Hollywood), the latter emphasizing on musical numbers while the former did more experiencing with sound for suspense purposes. In M the whistling of the murderer goes very far in creating suspense and with the images of a deserted ball or a lost baloon it depicts very intesely the murders without showing more.
Fritz Lang was one of the directors of German expressionism in the 20´s and his film Metropolis while doing poorly upon release, has caught on and is now considered a masterpiece of the silent era, others include: Die Nibelungen, Dr Mabuse and Spione. According to Lang, he was invited to be the film maker of the Third Reich, but declined, the title later going to Leni Riefenstahl, and left Germany to go to Hollywood to continue his career with great success.
The undertitle for Fritz Lang´s M is A Ctiy looks for a Murderer (Ein Stadt sucht einen Mörder), at first we don´t see him but recognize his presence even more intensely through his compulsive whistling of Edvard Grieg´s Hall of the Mountain King. The film handles the uproar of a city left in terror by a children serial killer and the citizen´s unity in hunting him down. The police guard the streets and angry mobs attack anyone who speaks to a strange child. The organized crime bosses even join in on the search since their job has become almost impossible with the more visible police force on the street. They organize a patrol with the beggars and drifters on the street who look out for any suspicious activity or strange characters. The city is unified in the search but divided in punishment, the citizens want revenge while the police want a trial. The only certainty is the murderer will strike again.
The film was made in Germany, late in the Weimar Republic and depicts as Lang´s earlier film Metropolis (1927) a division in the city between the rich and the poor, an overworld and an underworld, that is compelled to reach an agreement. It was made in the early sound era, where develpoments in sound were very different between Europe and America (Hollywood), the latter emphasizing on musical numbers while the former did more experiencing with sound for suspense purposes. In M the whistling of the murderer goes very far in creating suspense and with the images of a deserted ball or a lost baloon it depicts very intesely the murders without showing more.
Fritz Lang was one of the directors of German expressionism in the 20´s and his film Metropolis while doing poorly upon release, has caught on and is now considered a masterpiece of the silent era, others include: Die Nibelungen, Dr Mabuse and Spione. According to Lang, he was invited to be the film maker of the Third Reich, but declined, the title later going to Leni Riefenstahl, and left Germany to go to Hollywood to continue his career with great success.
posted by Nafnlaus @ 9:35 f.h.
0 Comments:
Skrifa ummæli
<< Home