Line #9 Film/M


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_1671.jpeg]]
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3	->''"Just you wait, it won't be long.\
4	The man in black will soon be here.\
5	With his cleaver's blade so true.\
6	He'll make mincemeat out of YOU!"''
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8	''M'' (original German title ''M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder'', "A City Searches for a Murderer") is a 1931 crime film written and directed by Creator/FritzLang, from a script co-written by his then-wife Thea von Harbou.
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10	Lang's first sound film, it is about a serial child killer in UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic-[=era=] UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} and the people who try to find him: the police, the criminal underworld, and the city's beggars. One of the earliest examples of FilmNoir, ''M'' provides stark black-and-white imagery along with a haunting {{leitmotif}} heard throughout the film.
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12	As the film opens, that leitmotif -- "In the Hall of the Mountain King", from Edvard Grieg's ''Theatre/PeerGynt'' -- is whistled by Hans Beckert (Creator/PeterLorre), as he buys a balloon for a little girl named Elsie Beckmann from a blind street vendor. A scene later, Elsie hasn't come home from school and her worried mother shouts her name as the camera shows the abandoned balloon drifting up into the telephone wires.
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14	Police inspector Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke), meanwhile, is investigating the serial killings using modern policework, such as fingerprinting and handwriting analysis. The criminal underworld is also searching for the killer, since more police on the street is bad business for them and they, too, [[EvenEvilHasStandards are disgusted by the killer targeting children.]]
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16	The film is widely regarded as an important masterpiece in the history of cinema, and Lang himself considered it to be his MagnumOpus. It also catapulted Peter Lorre to screen stardom.
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18	Was [[ForeignRemake remade in the U.S.]] in 1951 in a version directed by Creator/JosephLosey, starring Creator/DavidWayne as the murderer and [[SettingUpdate updating the setting]] to postwar UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. There was another remake in the form of a 2019 Austrian MiniSeries by TVNOW (''M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder''), starring Sarah Viktoria Frick, Christian Doleza, Lore Niklas, Gerhard Liebmann (as M), Creator/MoritzBleibtreu and Creator/UdoKier. It too updates the setting, to PresentDay UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}}.
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20	----
21	!!The film contains examples of:
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23	* ArcWords: "Who is the murderer?"
24	* BadassLongcoat: Der Schränker's leather overcoat. Although see PuttingOnTheReich below; he's not a very likable character.
25	* BittersweetEnding: Beckert is brought to trial, with the bonus of criminals who tried to kill him being arrested as well, but the climax establishes that neither execution nor medical treatment seem to be a totally fitting sentence, and it won't bring back the kids anyway.
26	* ButtMonkey: Franz, one member of the gang that breaks into the office building to find Beckert, gets left behind when everyone bails out after the silent alarm is tripped. He is arrested and questioned by the police, and finally tricked by Lohmann (through a false statement that one of the watchmen has died) into revealing the reason for the break-in and where Beckert is being taken.
27	* CharacterSignatureSong: Hans Beckert always eerily whistles Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" when he goes somewhere.
28	* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Beckert's compulsive whistling, which leads to his identification as the child murderer.]]
29	* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:The blind balloon seller.]]
30	* DramaticDrop: When Franz tells Inspector Lohmann that they broke into the office building to catch the child murderer, the cigar he was smoking falls out of his mouth.
31	* DreamMelody: "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
32	* EmpathyDollShot: One of the [[UrExample oldest examples]]: Elsie's ball and balloon in the opening scene.
33	* EvenEvilHasStandards: A complicated example. The members of Berlin's criminal underground are not the nicest people by anyone's standards, and their primary reason for going after Hans is because the increased police presence caused by his actions interferes with their own crimes. The "defense attorney" himself notes the hypocrisy of wanted murderers standing in judgment of another murderer. Hans' final speech also [[MoralMyopia calls them out on their hypocritical "standards"]], pointing out that he does what he does [[ReluctantPsycho because he is insane and cannot help himself]], whereas they simply can't be bothered to learn an honest trade. On the other hand, there is a difference between a common criminal or mobster, and someone who kills and possibly rapes children simply for the pleasure of it. And the fact they put him to trial, plus the anger they feel against him, lends argument to the fact that, despite some level of hypocrisy, they are truly disgusted by his actions.
34	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Der Schränker ("The Safecracker").
35	* EvilVersusEvil: Most of the conflict happens between the child killer and the organised criminals, many of whom were killers themselves (just of adults). Inspector Lohmann and the authorities only play a minor role as a third party.
36	* ExactWords: From the "prosecutor": "everybody in this room is an expert on law! Why, there's dozens of years of experience between them!" Of course, there's a difference between being an experienced attorney and having been many times in court, but that's not what Beckert was asking specifically, was he?
37	* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: "Extra! Extra!", shout all the paperboys carrying news of the Beckmann murder.
38	* ForeignRemake: Joseph Losey's mostly-forgotten 1951 U.S. version transposes the story to post-WWII Los Angeles.
39	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The game the children play with the ball at the start of the film.
40	* GermanExpressionism: A late example.
41	* GollumMadeMeDoIt: Beckert's defense. He's driven by a compulsion that he can't resist.
42	* GoryDiscretionShot:
43	** Interesting version; In one scene, the Thieves are torturing a watchman for information in a glass-windowed room, with a crowd of beggars watching from outside. When the leader signals for the torture to start, the beggars move up against the windows so nothing can be seen.
44	** Also, Elsie's death at the beginning.
45	* TheGreatDepression: A rare European example.
46	* GreyAndGrayMorality: Both sides are black with shades of grey. Even a child murderer is not without his sympathetic side.
47	* HoldingTheFloor: Beckert's long speech at his trial.
48	* HonorAmongThieves: Der Schränker makes it clear that the mob intends to kill Hans for his heinous crimes, but he gives Hans the rights to defend himself and even a good lawyer just to show that even criminals like him are more honorable than him.
49	* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: You can pinpoint when Hans Beckert discovers he is being watched and is about to be caught to the moment when he discovers the chalk "M" on his shoulder. Ironically, this is because his intended victim points it out to him.
50	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Hans again. In fact, Peter Lorre was typecast as this role for years afterward. Subverted in that Hans Beckert managed to kill several children and successfully evade the police in the first part of the film and the time before and is only this because of his pathetic nature and guilt after being caught.
51	* InsanityDefense: The climax features an analysis of whether it's fair to punish a man for crimes he was compelled by insanity to do.
52	* IronicNurseryRhyme: The children's singing in the beginning and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" to an extent.
53	* ItsAllAboutMe: Hans's impassioned speech in his own defense pretty much ignores the pain and suffering he caused and would have continued to cause if allowed to roam free in favor of complaining about how unfair it was for people to blame him for his actions. Then again seeking treatment for being a pedophile in those days are even worse than today so while being a DirtyCoward it's not like it's an easy choice.
54	* JerkassHasAPoint:
55	** Beckert is an insane child murderer, but his condemnation of the hypocrisy of the 'court' standing in judgement of him isn't entirely without merit.
56	** The prosecutor of the mob trial may be a criminal but he does have a point that whether or not Hans is crazy he is a threat to the children of Germany regardless and killing him would make them more safe.
57	* JokerJury: The criminals' court at the end (although Hans is far from a hero). They even mockingly claim to be experts of the law simply from serving time in prison.
58	* KangarooCourt: The criminal underworld sets up a court to try Beckert, but it's clear from the beginning that they have no intention to do anything but kill him.
59	* {{Leitmotif}}: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" used for creepy effect. [[TropeCodifier In fact,]] ''[[TropeCodifier M]]'' [[TropeCodifier practically created the cinematic leitmotif.]]
60	* MassOhCrap: The furious audience of the KangarooCourt is about to leap on Beckert and tear him to shreds, when they all notice something behind the camera, suddenly freeze -- and begin to put their hands up. (It's because Lohmann and his men have just arrived to arrest them all.)
61	* MatchCut: A crime boss talks to his fellow crime bosses about the problems the child murderer is causing, due to the increased police presence. With a sweep of his arm, he says "I invite--". Cut to another person at a different meeting, sweeping his arm and saying "--your views, gentlemen." The second meeting is a different group of men -- this time detectives -- discussing the same subject. The rest of the scene continues to cut between the different meetings in a similar way.
62	* MurderersAreRapists: Very, ''very'' subtly implied, and all off-screen. One of the police departments on the child-killer case is a sexual crimes division, and one policeman says to another concerning the child-killer's victims "You know what state we find them in after that." Also, everyone was specifically looking for a male perpetrator.
63	* NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters: Deconstructed. The vigilante criminals are only interested in catching the killer so the police will stop disrupting their own illegal activities with constant raids and interrogations. Hans also points out that their crimes have even less justification than his own.
64	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Lohmann in his bodily build, mannerisms and modus operandi is very closely modeled on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Gennat Ernst Gennat]] (1880-1939), the head of Berlin's ''Mordinspektion'' (set up in 1926, the world's first police Homicide division), who introduced many innovations to investigation procedures, e.g. becoming the first man to use the new medium of television to ask the public for information relevant to an ongoing investigation. Gennat among other things headed the investigation of the Grossman and Kürten murders and coined the term "serial killer" with reference to the latter. In his day Gennat was internationally famous[[note]]When Charlie Chaplin visited Berlin, he asked to be introduced to Gennat.[[/note]] and was known to Berliners by affectionate nicknames like "the Buddha of the Alex" (i. e. the police headquarters on Alexanderplatz).
65	* NoEnding: Probably a LogicalExtreme example. Not only does the movie [[TheUnReveal come to a close right before Hans is given a verdict]], ''there aren't even any credits'', not even a "TheEnd" card like most every film had even in those days. The film cuts to black as the grieving mother whispers "all of you", and then it suddenly stops.
66	* NoMercyForMurderers: Serial killer Hans Beckert is kidnapped by the Berlin mob, who holds a mock trial over whether to kill him or hand him over to the police. Beckert gives an impassioned speech denouncing them as hypocrites who have no right to judge him, saying that he's driven to kill by uncontrollable compulsions, while they're all criminals by choice. He's unsuccessful in swaying them, however, and he's about to be lynched by the criminal crowd when the police burst in.
67	* NothingIsScarier: We never find out exactly ''what'' the murderer did to his victims; suffice it to say that the state of the girls' bodies horrified even hardened police officers. We also never learn the sentence passed on the killer -- imprisonment, execution, or commitment to a mental hospital (all of which could inflict their own particular horrors on a convict).
68	* NotSoInnocentWhistle: The killer has a super-creepy whistle.
69	* OhCrap: The very slow pan around the room after Hans is shoved down the stairs, showing the JokerJury staring at him in unmoving complete silence.
70	** And, of course, the famous scene where he realizes his coat has been marked and that he's being followed. In fact, this is mostly Beckert's reaction throughout the entire second half of the film.
71	** See also MassOhCrap above.
72	* OneLetterTitle: The "M" stands for ''Mörder", aka murderer.
73	* OrganGrinder: One is among the beggars tasked with keeping their eyes out for the murderer.
74	* OutOfGenreExperience: For a few minutes, the police procedural part switches into documentary style, complete with voice-over, diagrams, and a giant compass drawing circles on a city map.
75	* PaedoHunt: The child-targeting SerialKiller [[MurderersAreRapists is implied to also assault his victims sexually]].
76	* PoliceProcedural: The police part of the movie is possibly the UrExample of this trope.
77	* PragmaticVillainy: Part of the reason why the criminals want to stop Hans so much? His presence increases the number of police operating, which in turn interferes with their ability to break the law and get away with it.
78	* PuttingOnTheReich: What may be seen as a "prophetic" example, since the Nazis weren't in power yet: Der Schränker's long leather coat may be seen as foreshadowing UsefulNotes/TheGestapo; more plausibly his leather-coat and rhetoric have been seen as alluding to Joseph Goebbels, then chief of propaganda of the Nazi party and their ''Gauleiter'' (regional head of the party organisation) in Berlin. Although neither the Gestapo nor Goebbels were known for sporting bowler hats or walking-canes. The Schränker was portrayed by Gustaf Gründgens, who later continued to rise to fame and fortune under the Nazis (partly because Hermann Goering was a fan of his), which became the subject of Klaus Mann's RomanAClef ''Literature/{{Mephisto}}''. The story that the film was originally entitled ''Mörder unter uns'' ("Murderer(s) Among Us") and had to be given a different title due to pressure from the Nazis is a legend which Fritz Lang at different times confirmed and denied.
79	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In his impassioned defense, Hans is quick to note the essential hypocrisy of the court of criminals trying him; he does bad things, but he commits abhorrent acts because he is insane and cannot make himself stop, but they ''choose'' to be criminals when they could instead earn an honest living.
80	* ReluctantPsycho: Hans, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g-sfrQnwwg as encapsulated in his defense speech]] seen under TragicVillain.
81	* SerialKiller: Of little girls.
82	* ShamingTheMob: This is what Hans tries to do. It doesn't work. Except on some audience members.
83	* ShoutOut: The ''M'' used to mark Beckert inspired the plot of the ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer album ''Recap/TheYellowM'' and also the 13th ''Franka'' album, ''De dertiende letter'' ("The thirteenth letter") by Henk Kuijpers.
84	* SilenceIsGolden: Because a silent film was expected to have accompaniment throughout this film is actually quieter than most ''silent films''. The silence of shots like the slow reveal of the mob backed court, and, later, the police coming to stop the mobsters from killing the serial killer makes them so much tenser.
85	* SinisterWhistling: In what is probably the TropeMaker, the titular [[SerialKiller child killer]] compulsively whistles "In the Hall of the Mountain King" right before he tracks down his victims. This is employed to great effect, with many scenes keeping the killer off-screen; meaning the whistle itself carries the dread. The tune itself contains multiple pauses and breaks in odd places, giving it an additional sense of wrongness. As Creator/PeterLorre could not whistle, director Creator/FritzLang provided the iconic tune himself.
86	* StabTheSalad: After luring in his next victim, Hans pulls out a switchblade, which he uses to peel an orange.
87	* SuspectIsHatless: The detectives complain that while they're under massive public pressure to catch the killer, the vague descriptions of the killer given by witnesses don't help.
88	* SympatheticMurderer: Hans turns out to be one in the end, in spite of his horrific crimes.
89	* TheSociopath: What Hans would probably be diagnosed with nowadays, and probably his true character.
90	* TalentDouble: Peter Lorre couldn't actually whistle, so Lang provided it in a hidden CreatorCameo.
91	* ThievesGuild: Several of them, it seems, one for each major division of the trade.
92	* TokenGoodTeammate: To Beckert's surprise, his "defense counsel" at the Criminals' trial actually tries to defend him, and makes a powerful argument at the trial as to why Beckert should be handed over to the police instead of being lynched by the mob.
93	* TragicVillain: Hans can't help the fact that he's a child murderer.
94	-->'''Hans:''' But I, I can't help myself! I have no control over this! This evil thing inside me, the fire, the voices, the torment!... It's there all the time, driving me out to wander the streets, following me, silently, but I can feel it there. It's me, pursuing myself. I want to escape, to escape from myself. But it's impossible. I can't escape. I have to obey it. I have to run endless streets. I want to escape, to get away. And I'm pursued by ghosts. Ghosts of mothers. And of those children. They never leave me. They are there, always there. Always, except when I do it. When I... Then I can't remember anything.
95	* TheUnReveal: Beckert's sentence. The judges are just about to announce it when the film cuts to three mourning mothers, one of whom says that no sentence will bring the victims back.
96	* VehicleVanish: At one point during the criminals' manhunt, Beckert is seen from a viewpoint across the road when a fire engine drives past, and when the view is clear Beckert has disappeared.
97	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Fritz Lang based the story on several serial killers who had plagued Germany in recent years, including Fritz Haarmann, Karl Grossmann, and Peter Kürten, the "Vampire of Düsseldorf." Haarman and Grossmann are mentioned by name, and Haarmann is the real subject of the children's rhyhme at the beginning. It should be noted that Fritz denied it because it was seen as being tastelessly (for presenting him as sympathetic) RippedFromTheHeadlines.
98	* VillainProtagonist: Hans Beckert, serial child murderer.
99	* WeirdTradeUnion: The Beggars' League (taken from Creator/BertoltBrecht's ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'').
100	* WhatIsEvil: Beckert is pursued by the city's criminal underworld, because the intensive police manhunt is interfering with their business and because they resent police inquiries that imply that they might be associated with a child murderer. When they [[JokerJury conduct a mock trial]] of Beckert, he [[ShamingTheMob attacks]] their sense of [[EvenEvilHasStandards moral superiority]], declaring that he does what he does because he's haunted by unwanted compulsions he can't resist, while they do what they do because they freely chose crime instead of honest work.
101	* WouldHurtAChild: Hans, a pedophile and murderer of children.
102	* WouldntHurtAChild: The criminal underworld may be scum who, as Hans [[VillainHasAPoint accurately points out]], can't be bothered to learn an honest trade, but they draw the line at hurting children and [[EvenEvilHasStandards are appalled by Hans' actions]].
103	* WritingIndentationClue: The murderer writes a letter to the newspapers, using a single sheet of paper, a red pencil, and a wooden table or desk. When the police search Beckert's apartment, they find partial impressions of the letter's words in a windowsill, as well as bits of red pencil lead. In this case, they already knew what had been written; the indentation and lead bits were, instead, proof that it had been written ''there'' specifically.

Context Film / M