Germany is in panic when a child murderer strikes again. Police sprawl all over germany for clues; germany's criminal underground fear losing business, so they hire the help of beggars to watch the streets. The mystery unfolds and thus the hunt...
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Germany is in panic when a child murderer strikes again. Police sprawl all over germany for clues; germany's criminal underground fear losing business, so they hire the help of beggars to watch the streets. The mystery unfolds and thus the hunt for Hans Beckert begins.

Thats the genius of M. You can watch it a hundred times over and still enjoy it. The story is very simple; but it should be. Police try to track down and arrest a murderer by searching for clues. A subplot conecerning an orginazation or person going to extreme legenths to stop the criminal for their own gain or benefit. The two plots then later combine ; and then resolve.

This formula has been used in hundreds of crime movies since then because M created the crime genre.

And thats why M is an important film that should be viewed by many.

This is 1931 movie. This is a thriller, kind of a Drama film. This is a "story" of a child murderer that is being chased by the cops. The police do everything they can to catch him, searching in all homes, stores, everything and...
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This is 1931 movie. This is a thriller, kind of a Drama film. This is a "story" of a child murderer that is being chased by the cops. The police do everything they can to catch him, searching in all homes, stores, everything and anything...But the organized criminal underground is being pushed with all this search, they fear to caught and taken to jail. So the only solution they have is to catch the child murderer by their own, so in one hand we have the police trying to find the child murderer and we have the organized crime trying to catch him in order not to be catched. In the end the organized crime catch him and makes some kind of court justice putting as themselves and the families of the children as jury. In my opinion this movie have a filosophical effect and reflection. This reflects in the popular(of the people) justice to punish him but also this movie try to understand the wrights of the criminal of this movie. For someone that never saw the movie, he don´t know why in the hell do the criminal have to have wrights?? The simple answer is because in the movie the murderer didn´t knew what he was doing the man was sick and needed to be taken cared and so this movie tries to explain the inconditional justice of the people, independently of his condition or wrights.

There is nothing really special about this movie. It seems like a run of the mill movie made in the typical Hollywood fashion of the time. The plot is laid out pretty early on (and the filmspot summary is accurate) so there aren't any surprises...
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There is nothing really special about this movie. It seems like a run of the mill movie made in the typical Hollywood fashion of the time. The plot is laid out pretty early on (and the filmspot summary is accurate) so there aren't any surprises or twists or sudden changes in the plot. In fact, that was sort of unheard of at the time. This psychological drama is suppose to be character driven. Only there are two many characters to really get into any of them. The murderer, the cop, the people in the streets, the mothers, the children, and the mobsters. It's pretty difficult to find something in common with any of them.
Also, I have a weak stomach when it comes to hurting children and women, I have a hard time watching it, even when it's fake. Luckily they do this part with some decorum and I'm not making trips to the bathroom.
Peter Lorre does carry the movie. He's a little nutty that one, which gives us a good reason to pay attention. Rent it for the fun of it, but don't expect Vertigo.