"M"

"M" was made in 1931 and is not a good movie. It is in German and directed by Fritz Lang and stars Peter Lorre. It is about Hanz Beckert a child murderer who was based on the true story of serial killer Peter Kurten dubbed "The Vampire of Dusseldorf" who murdered around 30 men, women, and children.

Hans Beckert played by Peter Lorre terrorizes the town of Dusseldorf by taking little girls and then murdering them. These murderers cause the town to go into chaos trying to look for the killer. This peaceful town starts blaming anyone who looks suspicious. They want there streets to be safe and are willing to do anything to accomplish that. When the first murder of Elise Beckmann occurs you see Beckert taking her around buying her candy and balloons to try to easy her into trusting him. While all of this is going on he is whistling a song which is his tell tale sign later on in the movie. But when he kills her you see her ball roll away and her balloon he bought for her go into the sky. During this time you hear nothing but the sound of Elise's mother calling for her daughter. This is one of the few good parts of the film, the sound going in and out at different points, it adds a nice different element to the movie.

When the police can do nothing to catch the killer so the people start taking things into there own hands. Like I previously stated anyone who looks suspicious gets attacked and accused. One other thing, singular, that I like about the film is that criminal underworld headed by Schranker, who is a man of mystery and everyone fears comes together to catch the murderer. They come together because people thing that the murder is one of them and they want to prove other wise to help business go back to what it used to be. When all of the heads of the criminal underworld, pick pockets, thieves, and others meet the police are doing the same thing and it goes back and forth between the two showing that even though one might be bad and good you can not tell the difference, they are now one in the same with a common goal, trying to get the murderer.

Then the criminal underworld gets help from the beggars union, which is pretty funny, to watch any suspicious men with little girls. Like I said before, the whistle when Beckert was in his trance gave himself away. When he gets another little girl and starts whistling he walks by the balloon man who he bought the balloon for Elise and the balloon man recognizes his whistle. The balloon man tells the other people and they track him. To make sure they do not lose him they put a chalk "M" on his back and track him. They find him in a building a bring him to their court. This the last thing I like about the movie which is these criminals create a court to try this killer in. It is ironic that thieves and murderers think that they can condemn a man. But the police show up and arrest Beckert.

Overall it is not a good movie but is not bad. I would give it a 6/10. There are certain things about it that is good but overall not so much. If you want to watch the movie go right ahead but I do warn in advance. If you disagree with me post a blog on and tell me why you liked it. Below this is a clip from the movie where they catch the murder and you see who Beckert really is.