M (M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder)

Fritz Lang’s ‘M’ was approved by the Berlin Film Censorship Office

in a 1:17-minute version on 27th April 1931 ,

and received its premiere on 11th May 1931 .

The film was rereleased in a shortened 98-minute version in March of 1960

under the title ‘M, Dein Morder sieht Dich an’

The original negative is preserved at the Federal Film Archive

in a 96-minute version.

Whenever possible, missing scenes were filled in

using prints from the same period from the Cinematheque Suisse

and the Netherlands Film Museum.

In its present form, the film runs 1:10-minutes.

The film was restored in 2000 by the Netherlands Film Museum

in collaboration with the Federal Film Archive,

the Cinematheque Suisse, KirchMedia and ZDF/ARTE,

with funding from the Mondriaan Foundation.

Laboratory: L’Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna

Sound Restoration: KirchMedia, Munich,

and Martin Sawyer Sound Services, London

Just you wait, it won’t be long

The man in black will soon be here

With his cleaver’s blade so true

He’ll make mincemeat out of you!

You’re out.

I told you to stop singing that awful song!

Didn’t you hear me?

That same cursed song over and over!

Dear me, that’s heavy.

What’s the matter?

I told those kids to stop singing that awful song,

but they sing it all day long.

As if we haven’t heard enough of that murderer already.

Leave them alone.

As long as we can hear them singing,

at least we know they’re still there.

Yes, I guess you’re right.

Public School

10,000 Marks Reward— Who is the Murderer?

Little Kurt Klawitzky and his sister Klara have been missing since 11th June.

Evidence leads us to believe the children were victims of a crime

similar to that committed last fall against the Doering siblings.

What a pretty ball you have there.

What’s your name?

Elsie Beckmann.

Didn’t Elsie come with you?

—No. —She didn’t come with us.

Pretty!

Thank you.

A thrilling new chapter, Mrs Beckmann. Passionate and moving.

Just a moment, Mr Gehrke.

Tell me, Mr Gehrke.

Have you seen little Elsie?

No. Didn’t she just come up the stairs?

No, she’s not home yet.

She won’t be long now. Goodbye.

Goodbye, Mr Gehrke.

Extra! Extra!

No, I can’t give change! Extra!

Makes you afraid to send your kids to school!

Who is the murderer?

Because the police did not publish my first letter,

I am writing now directly to the press!

Proceed with your investigations.

All will soon be confirmed.

But I’m not done yet!

10,000 Marks Reward

—Christ, here we go again! —This is horrible!

The print’s too small. We can’t read it.

You in front, read it out loud!

—Let him read! —Hey! Quiet!

“The terror in our town has found a new victim.”

Louder! We can’t hear a word!

“Certain evidence leads us to believe

that this is the same murderer

who has already claimed eight victims from among our city’s children.

We must emphasise once again

that it is, now more than ever, every mother and father’s sacred duty

to alert their children to this ever present danger

and to the friendly guise it is likely to assume.

A little candy, a toy, or an apple

can suffice to lure a child to his or her doom.”

Very true!

Keep reading.

“Anxiety among the general public is heightened

by the police’s failure to apprehend a suspect.

But the police are faced with the almost impossible task

of catching a criminal who left not the slightest clue behind.

Who is the murderer?

What does he look like?

Where is he hiding?

No one knows him, yet he is among us.

Anybody sitting next to you could be the murderer.”

Yes, that’s very true.

—Why look at me when you say that? —You know very well.

What do I know very well?

Think about it. It’ll come to you.

What are you saying?

I saw you follow that little girl from the fourth floor up the stairs.

You’re crazy, you dirty swine!

Who’s the swine? Me, or a man who chases little girls?

You bastard! You swine!

Murderer!

Gentlemen!

I’ll see you in court!

I’ll have you locked up!

Slanderer! Trying to ruin my reputation!

Damn slanderer! Besmirching a man’s good name!

And the police fall for it!

A search warrant!

How awful! What a disgrace!

Searching a man’s house based on an anonymous letter!

Mr Jäger, please calm down. We’re only doing our job.

As if it weren’t enough that we’re in constant fear for our kids!

You see? That’s why the police must follow up every lead.

Any man on the street could be the murderer.

Can you please tell me what time it is?

Yes, my child.

Now you must hurry home. Where do you live?

What’s it to you where the kid lives?

Excuse me?

What do you want with that kid?

Absolutely nothing!

What do you want with me?

I’ll show you what I want!

Let me go! This is an outrage!

—What’s going on? —This is an outrage!

—What does Four-Eyes want? —Don’t get so excited.

—First chatting up children … —Punch him in the face!

… then acting like a big shot!

Will you let me go! I didn’t even speak to the child!

—Get her alone, eh? —And kill her like the others, right?

—He’s the murderer! —Hold him!

Call the police!

—Never around when you need ‘em! —Officer!

Make way, gentlemen. Let us through.

Sure, you can catch pickpockets! Why don’t you catch the murderer instead!

What? Is he the murderer?

Break it up! Come on, move along!

—The murderer! —The monster!

Get him!

Tackle him!

Murderer Writes to the Press

Because the police did not publish my first letter,

I am writing now directly to the press!

Proceed with your investigations.

All will soon be confirmed.

But I’m not done yet!

This is a terrible scandal!

Imagine the effect such a note will have on the public, Commissioner!

This is simply irresponsible!

Mr Secretary, we cannot stop the murderer

from writing to whomever he wishes!

This severely pathological man probably takes great pleasure

in seeing his crimes covered in the press.

We immediately got in touch with the newspaper

and had them send us the original letter.

The lab’s working on it right now.

Of course, you can’t get good fingerprints from a postcard

that’s passed through so many hands.

Nevertheless, we will leave no stone unturned.

We’ll painstakingly compare the results against our archives

in hopes of finding something that can be used to solve this case.

Then we’ll send the letter to our graphologist.

“The aforementioned diamond-shaped and swelling sweeps,

clearly seen in the word ‘soon’, third line from the bottom …”

—You got that? —Yes.

“… attest to the strongly pathological sexuality of this sex offender.”

Full stop.

The partially disrupted and uneven style of his other letters

is, in its interpretation,

a form of acting

which may manifest externally as indolence or even lethargy.

The writing as a whole displays

elusive yet unmistakable signs

of madness.

Yes, of course, Commissioner.

I have no doubt you’re doing your job, and your men as well.

But we need results!

Results!

Mr Secretary, my men haven’t gotten 12 hours’ sleep in an entire week!

My riot squads don’t get a moment’s peace.

They report for duty almost more fatigued than when they were dismissed.

because the painstaking nature of their work wears on the nerves,

and 80%, if not 90%, of our leads are false.

The homicide squad doesn’t even get time to change clothes.

They’re constantly on call, always tense and alert.

ever ready to spring into action,

to follow even the slightest lead,

as it just might be the one that solves the case.

Mr Secretary, just consider the search of the crime scene.

To give you an example,

in the bushes just behind a picket fence,

a small, white, crumpled paper wrapping was found.

It apparently once contained inexpensive sweets.

In the outermost corner

were found traces of fruit drops

and particles of powdered sugar.

We’ve tried to trace the origin of this wrapper

in every candy shop and grocery store within a radius of a mile and a half,

but all to no avail.

With each passing day we expand the area searched.