M

Fritz Langs’ M, made in 1931, is said to have spawned both the serial killer and police procedural genres. I suspect at heart it is in fact neither of these, but is more a commentary on the Germany where Lang lived at the time and clearly despised. The decadence of the period has often been portrayed in tawdry terms, such as in Cabaret, but these films seem positively glamorous compared with Lang’s vision of filth and depravity. The story is of a serial killer, magnificently portrayed by Peter Lorre, who eludes capture so successfully that the city’s underworld becomes involved in trying to secure his capture. This on the basis that the police are making their lives unbearable trying to catch the killer. This may be a bit of a long bow in plot logic as one might expect criminals to welcome the diversion of police attention. Nonetheless, it is a striking and powerful film. Lorre does not get a great deal of screen time but his speech, in which he describes the torment that drives him to commit the murders, is powerful stuff indeed.