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Columbia Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The most gripping motion picture you've ever seen!
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.
John Chard
Jun 25, 2019 · via TMDB
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
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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
Walter Burke
MacMahan
John Miljan
Blind Baloon Vendor
Janine Perreau
The Last Little Girl
Leonard Bremen
Lemke (as Lennie Bremen)
Karen Morley
Mrs. Coster
Jim Backus
The Mayor
Jorja Curtright
Mrs. Stewart
Fred Aldrich
Sam (uncredited)
Don Anderson
Speakeasy Patron (uncredited)
Al Bain
Man in Mob (uncredited)
George Barrows
Policeman (uncredited)
Madge Blake
Police Station Witness (uncredited)
Ewing Miles Brown
Minor Role (uncredited)
Ernest Laszlo
Director of Photography
Robert Aldrich
Assistant Director
Joseph Losey
Director
John Hubley
Layout
Don Weis
Script Supervisor
Waldo Salt
Dialogue
Fritz Lang
Original Story
Thea von Harbou
Original Story
Norman Reilly Raine
Screenplay
The Final Note
Goodnight, Soleil
The strange case of detective Jones
Frigid
Double Indemnity
M
Detrás de la mentira
Safe.
The Virgin Spring
The Third Man
Touch of Evil
The Maltese Falcon
Strangers on a Train
Sweet Smell of Success
The Big Sleep
Elevator to the Gallows
Mildred Pierce
Passport to Darkness
Cape Fear
Key Largo
Gilda
It Happened in Broad Daylight
Scarface
The Lady from Shanghai
The Blue-collar Man
The Deathmaker
Hunted
It Happened in Broad Daylight
L'Âge d'or
Silent Hill
The Child I Never Was
Cry Terror!
Dead Again
Killer's Kiss
Dick Tracy
Without a Kiss Goodbye
Acts of Vengeance
The Hot Month of August
Der Fall Bachmeier - Keine Zeit für Tränen
Kopfschuß
Iris
Background Action
Joker's Wild
10 Minuten
Crime Without Witness
Inkspot
Now Let Me Tell You Something
A un paso de la soledad
Gobsmacked
Death is Business
The Girl with the Golden Chain
Shadow of a Doubt
The Naked City
The Web
Plunder Road
Nightfall
Each Dawn I Die
The Hitch-Hiker
The Reckless Moment
The Interview
Cry of the City
The Glass Key
Born to Kill
Hollow Triumph
They Made Me a Fugitive
The Blue Gardenia
Time Without Pity
Man from Reno
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Witness to Murder
The Locket
A Kiss Before Dying
Sleep, My Love
A Blueprint for Murder
The Mirror Crack'd
Lady in the Lake
Black Angel
The Dark Past
The Truth About Emanuel
Murder!
The Quiller Memorandum
Murder in Three Acts
Mar 1, 1951
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1978 · 13 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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