MFritz Lang's 'M' (1931) is an undisputed classic of world cinema. Lang considered it his most lasting work. Peter Lorre's extraordinary performance as the childlike misfit Hans Beckert was one of the most striking of film debuts, and it made him an international star. Lang's vision of a city gripped with fear, haunted by surveillance and total mobillization, is still remarkably powerful today. And 'M' resonates too in the serial-killer genre which is so prominent in contemporary cinema. 'M' speaks to us as a timeless classic, but also as a Weimar film that has too often been isolated from its political and cultural context. In this groundbreaking book, Anton Kaes reconnects 'M''s much-studied formal brilliance to its significance as an event in 1931 Germany, recapturing the film's extraordinary social and symbolic energy. Interweaving close reading with cultural history, Kaes reconstitutes 'M' as a crucial modernist artwork. In addition he analyzes Joseph Losey's 1951 film noir remake and, in an appendix, publishes for the first time 'M''s missing scene. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 9
Page 23
... Peter Lorre , a young actor born in 1904 who had come from Hungary to work in Berlin . Lang saw Lorre perform in a Brechtian production of Marielusie Fleisser's episodic play Pioneers in Ingolstadt in 1929. Intrigued by Lorre's unusual ...
... Peter Lorre , a young actor born in 1904 who had come from Hungary to work in Berlin . Lang saw Lorre perform in a Brechtian production of Marielusie Fleisser's episodic play Pioneers in Ingolstadt in 1929. Intrigued by Lorre's unusual ...
Page 26
... Lorre a film star , Lorre also made M what it is . For many critics then and now , the film's centre of gravity lies in Lorre's unique dramatic persona . In the final analysis , is not M as much a Peter Lorre film as it is a Fritz Lang ...
... Lorre a film star , Lorre also made M what it is . For many critics then and now , the film's centre of gravity lies in Lorre's unique dramatic persona . In the final analysis , is not M as much a Peter Lorre film as it is a Fritz Lang ...
Page 71
... Peter Lorre ( whose Hungarian name was Laszlo Loewenstein before he changed to his stage name ) as the child murderer , he could not have foreseen what the Nazis would do with his film . In 1940 , a large portion of Beckert's confes ...
... Peter Lorre ( whose Hungarian name was Laszlo Loewenstein before he changed to his stage name ) as the child murderer , he could not have foreseen what the Nazis would do with his film . In 1940 , a large portion of Beckert's confes ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actor audience balloon seller Beckert Beckmann become beggars Berlin BFI Film Classics break-in Brecht called censorship child murderer cinema close-up compulsion confession copycat court criminal culture death penalty derer detective Dimendberg Düsseldorf editing Elsie Elsie's enters the frame Epic Theatre Ernst face film noir Film-Kurier film's Franz Fritz Lang Gennat German film girl Gründgens Haarmann Heinrich Hitler's Hollywood Inspector Lohmann Karl kill Lang's film letter look Lorre's Losey Losey's lynch mob Mabuse mass murder mental mirror movie murderer's Nazis Nebenzal newspaper off-screen Peer Gynt Peter Kürten Peter Lorre physiognomy play police president political poster premiere pulp fiction radio recognise remake reports role scene Schränker screen serial killer serial murder shadow shot shows silent film sound film stage street surveillance suspect Thea von Harbou total mobilisation trauma trial underworld urban victim viewer voice Weimar Republic Westfront Westfront 1918 whistling