M1931
“Who is the murderer?”
Directed by Fritz Lang
🏆 2 wins total
The premise
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Horror Vault's take
Fritz Lang's groundbreaking 1931 masterwork drops viewers into a city gripped by fear as a child killer prowls the streets of Weimar-era Berlin. The hunt for the murderer becomes a strange collision of law enforcement and the criminal underworld, each determined to bring him to heel for very different reasons. Peter Lorre delivers one of cinema history's most haunting and complex performances as the hunted man, turning a monster into something disturbingly human. Crackling with expressionist shadow and moral ambiguity, M remains as psychologically potent today as it was nearly a century ago.
Content: Child Murder Themes, Depictions Of Predatory Behavior Toward Children, Mob Violence, Intense Psychological Distress
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Cast
Peter Lorre
Hans Beckert
Ellen Widmann
Frau Beckmann
Inge Landgut
Elsie Beckmann
Otto Wernicke
Inspector Karl Lohmann
Theodor Loos
Inspector Groeber
Gustaf Gründgens
Schränker
Friedrich Gnaß
Franz
Fritz Odemar
The Cheater
Paul Kemp
Pickpocket with Six Watches
Theo Lingen
Bauernfänger
Rudolf Blümner
Becker's 'Attorney'
Georg John
Blind Panhandler
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