A Filmmaker's Review: "M" (1931)

Starring Peter Lorre, this film is one of the finest examples of Early German Cinema there is and because I loved it so much, I was actually initially thinking about doing my PhD in ... and prepare yourself... "The Impacts of Early German and Weimar Cinema on Post-1970 Modern and Post-Modern American Horror Films." I know, right. Influencing the state of horror/thriller and murder films right from the beginning, "M" (1931) is a constant classic that, since I first discovered it, I couldn't stop watching over and over. I looked especially at how much we have learnt from Lang's film. Let's look at my history with this classic then...

First and foremost, I discovered this film when I was 16 and I was actually watching "Nosferatu" (1922) at that time. It was (and still is) one of my favourite films of all time and so, I started researching other films of Early German Cinema. I came across things like "Dr. Caligari's Cabinet" (that I'd actually seen years before but Cesare gave me nightmares as a kid). I then found this gem - "M" by Fritz Lang. Now, I'd heard of Fritz Lang but never actually got around to watching his movies. Now that I had it in my hands, it was probably a good idea to keep it on repeat until I'd learnt all I needed to about it. From the repetitive shouting that happens throughout the film, to the singing of the rhymes and the whistling of the strange Peer Gynt tune - I can honestly say that many films have learnt something or another from Fritz Lang's masterpiece of thriller. The whistling literally changes the pace of the movie and thus, changes the way you watch the film. You'll notice that when it speeds up, you just randomly become worried about something for no reason. Well played Fritz Lang, well played.

I watched this film maybe a good thirty or forty times from the ages of 16 to 20 and so, I already knew quite a bit about it by the time I came to watching it again at 22. It was at this point that I was thinking of pursuing Early German Cinema as a PhD (and I still want to... it's just so damn good...) I can honestly say that "M" is possibly the most well-known film of Early German Cinema and so, it is quite common in study. I would have a lot of research to work with if I did decide to do it.

When I turned 23 though, I was all worn out from my MA and decided to no longer pursue a PhD (for now). I would love to do it in the future when I conjure up some energy. This film especially is a masterpiece not only of Early German Cinema but is a brilliant example of twisted thriller film that would later be used as archetype by the likes of Charlie Kaufman and Christopher Nolan.

The fact that M (the murderer) has strange similarities to Jack the Ripper (such as he writes to newspapers) shows that Fritz Lang had been doing some research into how murderers work around the world and become infamous, not only for their actions. Something that would later be copies by "Zodiac" (2006). The scene in which the psychologist analyses the handwriting and the letters shows that Fritz Lang had some knowledge of how modern psychology, especially criminal psychology, worked back then and was quite ahead of his time in making a film that could be believed by its audience and thus, scare them more than Nosferatu (1922) could. The difference is that Lang's film could actually happen in real life.

There's a lot of symbols parked all over the place in the film. For example: there is a definite symbol of newspapers and paper. Paper appears with writing on it nearly all the time in the film and so, this tells us that the handwriting and letters written are not only an important mode of communication, but the letters themselves are important because of what they say, who they're to and most importantly, who they're from. The next symbol is telephones. Telephones are of great importance in the film because it normally reveals what someone knows. Telephones are a secret form of communication and so, they have a certain concealment and anonymity to them that letters do not have.

You can find the other symbols for yourself when watching the film but those are just some of them. I think that this film holds such great importance in the world of horror/thriller because it is basically the first film to make horror/thriller into realism and then mass market it. Lang has really done us a service by making this film because nearly every single famous thriller film works off this very same model with some very similar symbols and themes.