Stanko's Stance

Director: Fritz Lang
Writers: Thea Von Harbou, Fritz Lang, Egon Jacobsohn
Staring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Streaming: HBO Max
Release Date: August 31, 1931

• I loved M. Plain and simple. M shows that you don’t need color, special effects, CGI, or any of that mumbo jumbo to make an amazing story.
• Since this movie was made in 1931 and is foreign to a lot of people (literally), M centers around a German City where a child killer is the loose and the police are having no luck, therefore the criminal underworld also takes a crack at catching him.
• There is so much tension in M. When Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) is hiding from the police and the criminal bigrade chasing in the storage closet, that is just gripping stuff. The non-verbal acting from Locke and the use of his eyes is earie and characterizing of a serial killer.
• The ending of M with the court of Beckert’s peers brings the viewer to goosebumps. The direct cut, to the quiet, onlooking and judgmental crowd is a shot that has stayed with me over the last months. The only thing that matches it in terms of a talking point I’d love to touch on is Promising Young Woman.
• It is a personal guarantee that anyone who watches M will be whistling “In The Hall Of The Mountain King.”

STANKO RATING: A- (4.5/5 Stars)

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