M

"The most gripping motion picture you've ever seen!"

1951 1h 28m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 68

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Remake of the 1931 Fritz Lang original. In the city, someone is murdering children. The Police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.

“The most gripping motion picture you've ever seen!”

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Cast

David Wayne
Martin W. Harrow
Howard Da Silva
Inspector Carney
Martin Gabel
Charlie Marshall
Luther Adler
Dan Langley
Steve Brodie
Police Lt. Becker
Raymond Burr
Pottsy
Glenn Anders
Riggert
Norman Lloyd
Sutro

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph Losey
Writers: Leo Katcher, Norman Reilly Raine, Fritz Lang
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Ernest Laszlo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michel Michelet. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Edward Mann shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

David Wayne and Howard Da Silva and Martin Gabel carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The most gripping motion picture you've ever seen!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0043766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph Losey directs. Ernest Laszlo behind the camera. Michel Michelet scores. Edward Mann cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
275 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Ernest Laszlo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Michel Michelet. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Edward Mann shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6David Wayne and Howard Da Silva and Martin Gabel carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The most gripping motion picture you've ever seen!".
8IMDB entry: tt0043766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
Original score: Michel Michelet
Editing: Edward Mann
Makeup / hair: Ted Larsen
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: M (1951)

Also by

Joseph Losey

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-06-25
★ 7/10
It could be anyone's child, anyone's, no one is safe. M is directed by Joseph Losey and written by Norman Reilly Raine and Leo Katcher. It stars David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Martin Gabel, Luther Adler, Steve Brodie and Raymond Burr. Music is by Michel Michelet and cinematography by Ernest Laszlo. Fritz Lang's original film from 1931 is a seriously classy classic, no doubt about it and although making a remake seems to many like birthing the devil's spawn, the 1951 version exists. How great to find that it's a very fine offering, one that was made at the right time (the film noir zeitgeist) and puts its own slant into the mix. Story here has been relocated to Los Angeles, where there's a child murderer on the loose and not only are the cops under pressure to capture the fiend, but also the criminal underworld since there's too much heat being brought into the vicinity of their operations. Narrative is structured in three ways, the operations of the police investigation, the criminal mobsters forming their own plan of seek and eradicate, and of course we follow the despicable actions of the killer, Martin W. Harrow (Wayne). Following closely from the original's template, Losey instils key haunting images and the killer's traits, whilst giving them their own identity within the grimy downtown L.A. locales. That we are in Bunker Hill and taking in such landmarks like the Angels Flight railway and the Bradbury Building, makes for some superb period flavours. Couple these with Laszlo's spell bindingly noir compliant cinematography, and Losey has got atmosphere to burn. Cast are giving good turns, with many noir favourites doing their thing, best of all, mind, is Wayne as the tormented kiddie killer. Getting more screen time than Peter Lorre does in the original, Wayne gives us a different interpretation that works for a high end portrayal of a man at the mercy of his desperate urges. None more so at pic's denoument, where he is cast to the floor and proceeds to outpour his very being. Wayne would never be this good again. It's not close to being as good as Lang's original, and the thread of the crime underworld worrying about their image is just daft. It's also safe to say that there's no deepness on show, there's some reasoning for why Harrow is as sick as he is - and a little snippet of vigilante paranoia, but this does fail to expand upon some serious themes. That said though, this is certainly a worthy entry in the file that contains remakes that hold their own. 7/10

Production companies