M     Directed by...............................................................Fritz Lang                                          Cast                                        Hans Beckert.........................................................Peter Lorre Schraenker...............................................Gustaf Gründgens                               Other Information                       1931 117 Minutes Unrated In German with English subtitles

A psychotic child murderer stalks a German city, and despite an exhaustive investigation fueled by public hysteria and outcry, the police have been unable to find the person responsible. But the police crackdown does have the side-effect of making it nearly impossible for the organized criminal underground to operate. As a result, for the sake of their own business, the city's gangsters decide to band together and find the murderer themselves. Originally released in 1931, M was one of the first talkies ever made, yet its subject matter and raw cinematic power make the film amazingly engrossing, even by today's standards. Directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre as the deranged killer, M is a harrowing and chillingly contemporary film.