M (1931)

  I got to pick the Cinema Club movie for this week.  Since I'm new to the group, I wanted to pick something representational, something that would introduce who I am.  So I picked a German Wiemar-era film about a child murderer.  (Yes, good job, me.  This is a totally normal choice and will make people like you.)

Berlin is quaking in the grip of terror as a child murderer stalks the streets.  Police are frustrated by the lack of clues left behind in the grisly murders.  Chief Lohmann (Otto Wernicke) has every available man tracing down leads, rustling through the usual suspects, pounding the pavement.  This is making it difficult for good, honest criminals to get work done so the head of the gangs, Schränker (Gustaf Gründgens), calls a meeting and puts all their manpower into play.  With the cops and the criminals out looking, how can the murderer (Peter Lorre) hide?

I love this film.  It holds up stunningly well, even now.  There's no violence shown at all.  They don't even tell you what is done to the children.  Everything is left to the viewer's imagination, which is the most horrible thing, of course.  Director Fritz Lang wanted it that way, so the audience is involved by having their own idea of what's happened.  (Also because censorship was a thing.)  There is so much dread and tension in Lorre's scenes, even though he doesn't do anything remotely evil on-screen.  It's all shadows and sound and the anticipation of what he could do, and what he has done.  You won't hear "Hall of the Mountain King" the same way for while after this, I promise.

It's currently streaming on the Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and HBO Max.  It is worth it.