---
title: "M"
year: 1931
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/m"
fi1m_id: "m"
imdb_id: "tt0022100"
tmdb_id: 832
wikidata_id: "Q127021"
fi1m_score: 94
critics_score: 90
critics_reviews: 9
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:33.573077+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# M (1931)

Directed by Fritz Lang · 1h 50m · MPA PG-13 · Drama, Thriller, Crime

## Identity

M

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/m
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** m
- **IMDb ID:** tt0022100
- **TMDB ID:** 832
- **Wikidata ID:** Q127021
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/832, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q127021

**Fi1m score: 94** · Critics 90 from 9 reviews

*In a sentence:* The police and the criminals are after the same man, which is not as reassuring as it sounds

> Fritz Lang’s crime thriller is frightening and humane, with Peter Lorre making its child murderer disturbingly pitiable. Some of the surrounding grotesques are overdrawn, but we would send anyone prepared for the subject to see it.

## Synopsis

A child murderer is at large, and fear spreads through a city as the search for him intensifies. The police pursue the killer while criminals begin a hunt of their own. Suspicion turns towards the people in the streets, and the pursuit exposes competing ideas about authority and justice. Peter Lorre plays Hans Beckert, the man at the centre of the search, with Otto Wernicke as Inspector Karl Lohmann and Ellen Widmann as Frau Beckmann. Fritz Lang directs this crime thriller, co-written with Thea von Harbou.

## Review

Fritz Lang’s *M* is a frightening crime thriller that deserves to be watched without any allowance for its age. The hunt for a child murderer supplies an urgent reason to keep watching, but catching him is not Lang’s only interest. The people conducting the search need watching too. The city’s fear is understandable, and the suspicion spreading through it is frightening in its own right. Lang gives that suspicion enough attention for the people surrounding the killer to become a substantial part of our unease.

The screenplay, by Lang and Thea von Harbou, makes room for the police and the criminals pursuing the same killer. Their shared purpose does little to reassure us about their motives. Lang takes the practical business of the hunt seriously, and the scenes of police work have an absorbing, methodical quality. He also makes us consider who benefits from presenting themselves as a defender of public safety. The pursuit remains gripping while giving us reasons to distrust the people involved in it.

Peter Lorre plays Hans Beckert with a vulnerability that is difficult to bear. We felt sorry for him, and were disturbed to find ourselves doing so. His frightened face makes the suffering of a child murderer something we have to consider, however much we would prefer to keep our attention elsewhere. Lorre does not make that response comfortable or offer it as a reason to dismiss the crimes. The performance requires us to keep looking at someone whose distress complicates feelings we might have expected to be straightforward.

Fritz Arno Wagner’s cinematography gives the faces and the objects around them an unnerving weight. The repeated attention to smoking makes a familiar social habit look unpleasantly compulsive. Paul Falkenberg’s editing lets cutaways and shots of objects do work that a more impatient thriller might give to another chase. These details keep the film tense without requiring a constant supply of physical action. We have time to examine what is in the picture, and that examination rarely makes anything feel safer.

Lang is equally deliberate about sound, using it to build dread around violence he largely leaves to our imagination. That restraint is particularly important in a film about murdered children, where showing more could so easily become an ugly way of holding our attention. We are given enough to understand the horror without being invited to inspect the damage. The sound and the attention to objects keep the threat present while allowing the film to concentrate on the search.

The film can push its disgust too hard. Some of the surrounding figures are so grotesquely drawn that we can feel Lang insisting on our revulsion before we have had time to look for ourselves. That occasionally makes the city less convincing as a place where ordinary people live. Lorre’s distress is more persuasive because it leaves us struggling with our response. The broader characterisation around him can seem blunt beside it.

For a serial-killer thriller, *M* spends an unusual amount of its energy making us wary of the people conducting the search. We tend to expect competence from the police and danger from criminals, and the shared pursuit makes those expectations less comfortable. Its 110 minutes reward close attention to the people as well as the pursuit. Give it an uninterrupted evening, and do not take the PG certificate as reassurance about the subject.

*Fi1m score 94, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics regard M as a gripping thriller whose force rests on Peter Lorre’s performance and Fritz Lang’s handling of sound and images. Lorre draws particular praise for making the killer pitiable without making him less frightening. The reviews repeatedly credit sound, cutaways and attention to objects with building tension without relying on action. Praise also clusters around the film’s depiction of paranoia, mob justice and a society whose sickness extends beyond the man being hunted.

The spread is largely enthusiastic, with differences more often about emphasis than objections. Empire reads the film as a powerful case against capital punishment; other reviews concentrate on hypocrisy and shifting sympathies. Den of Geek supplies the more guarded rating, though its account still praises the pacing and examination of authority and justice. Few substantial reservations emerge from the reviews, even where the marks differ.

## Straight answers

**Is M worth watching?**

*M* is worth watching for anyone prepared for a film about the hunt for a child murderer, and we scored it 94. Fritz Lang keeps the pursuit gripping while making us wary of the police and the criminals conducting it, and Peter Lorre makes the killer disturbingly pitiable. Some of the surrounding grotesques are overdrawn, but the film needs no allowance for its age.

**How long is M, and what is it rated?**

*M* runs 1h 50m and is rated PG-13 by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and thriller film.

**Where can I watch M in the US?**

*M* is streaming on HBO Max, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel and Hulu in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $2.99. It leaves Tubi on 13 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is M, and is it suitable for children?**

*M* is a PG in the UK, but the certificate is not a guide to the subject, which is the murder of children. Lang leaves the violence almost entirely to our imagination, building dread through sound and objects rather than showing harm. It is frightening in its atmosphere of fear and suspicion, and we would not suggest it for younger children; teenagers who can take the subject will find it absorbing.

**How does M compare to The Third Man?**

*M* is the darker and more frightening of the two, a thriller about a city hunting a child murderer, while [*The Third Man*](https://film.one/film/the-third-man) is a mystery with more humour and a more likeable central figure in Joseph Cotten's writer. Both make easy moral judgements difficult through a city's criminal dealings. We recommend either, but *M* asks more of a viewer's nerves, and *The Third Man* is the easier evening.

**What should I watch after M?**

After *M*, try [*The Third Man*](https://film.one/film/the-third-man) (1949, Fi1m 92): Another city whose criminal dealings make easy moral judgements difficult. Then [*High and Low*](https://film.one/film/high-and-low) (1963, Fi1m 90): Patient police work becomes an uncomfortable examination of money and responsibility; and [*The Night of the Hunter*](https://film.one/film/the-night-of-the-hunter) (1955, Fi1m 91): Childhood fear rendered through precise images and a deeply alarming adult.

### Reviews we read (14)

- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/5/5): The critic calls it one of the all-time greats for its groundbreaking imagery and moral ambiguities in depicting the killer and society. They highlight Peter Lorre's performance and the film's exploration of mob justice and ironies. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/m-1931)
- **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (5/5): The review describes it as a devastating serial killer template that retains its gripping power, focusing on mob justice and human weakness. It singles out the convincing portrait of a sick society and Peter Lorre's pitiable performance as the killer. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/m-3)
- **Empire**, David Parkinson (95/100, inferred): The film is an unqualified masterpiece and an undeniable classic that makes a powerful case against capital punishment while pioneering forensic policing on screen. It is dominated by Peter Lorre's peerless performance as the child killer. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/m-review/)
- **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film for giving depth and sympathy to its central figure while examining societal sickness and hypocrisy. They highlight Peter Lorre's performance and Lang's innovative use of sound and visuals in his first talkie. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/m-1798200252)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Fritz Lang's 1931 masterpiece as a superb thriller that still fascinates on re-release, with its depiction of paranoia and a feverish atmosphere around the hunt for a child killer uniting police and criminals. Peter Lorre's performance as the tormented murderer and the film's innovative use of sound and visual details like fetishised smoking are singled out. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/04/m-review-fritz-lang)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan: The restored film remains gripping and effective more than 80 years later as a taut masterpiece about a city hunting a child murderer. Turan singles out Peter Lorre's pitiable yet terrifying performance and the film's inventive sound design and camera work for praise. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2013-apr-09-la-et-mn-m-review20130405-story.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert: The film is a powerful portrait of a diseased society filled with grotesque characters and a palpable hatred for early 1930s Germany. Ebert singles out the haunting faces of the actors and Peter Lorre's compelling performance as the killer for particular note. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-m-1931)
- **Slant Magazine**, Chris Cabin: The critic hails the film as a genre-establishing masterpiece whose urgency has not aged. They single out Lang's masterful use of sound design, objects, symbols, and montage to convey terror and humanity. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/m/)
- **The New York Times**: The film is an extraordinarily effective and strong cinematic work with remarkably fine acting. The reviewer notes that its morbid and shocking narrative about a demented child murderer, though left largely to the imagination, makes for compelling but disturbing viewing. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1933/04/03/archives/the-daesseldorf-murders.html)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff: An extraordinary, impressive and strong first talkie from Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou. The reviewer praises the realistic police and underworld chase sequences and Peter Lorre's gripping performance as the murderer pleading for understanding of his pathology. [Read](https://variety.com/1930/film/reviews/m-1200410438/)
- **Collider**, Cameron Olsen (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Fritz Lang's M as a chilling, misanthropic masterpiece that anticipated film noir, highlighting its economical narrative, use of sound, and Peter Lorre's performance, while noting its cynical view of society and possible response to rising Nazism. [Read](https://collider.com/fritz-lang-m-best-noir/)
- **Paste**, Jim Vorel (90/100, inferred): The critic selects M as the best horror film of 1931 over Universal monsters, commending Lang's innovative use of sound to build suspense and Peter Lorre's vulnerable yet haunting performance that complicates notions of evil in the film's powerful climax. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movie-of-1931-m-fritz-lang)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it a taut chiller that skillfully shifts audience sympathies. They praise its sophisticated approach to the serial killer narrative and social commentary, noting its enduring relevance. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/m-1931-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Den of Geek**, Dave Adamson (3/5): The critic highlights the film's gripping pace through inventive cutaways and object shots that build tension without relying on action sequences, along with its examination of authority, paranoia, and justice. They note its continued relevance and the strong restoration quality. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/fritz-langs-m-dvd-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Fritz Lang
- **Director:** Fritz Lang
- **Screenplay:** Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou
- **Cinematography:** Fritz Arno Wagner
- **Editor:** Paul Falkenberg
- **Producer:** Seymour Nebenzal
- **Cast:** Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert; Ellen Widmann as Frau Beckmann; Inge Landgut as Elsie Beckmann; Otto Wernicke as Inspector Karl Lohmann; Theodor Loos as Inspector Groeber; Gustaf Gründgens as Schränker; Friedrich Gnaß as Franz; Fritz Odemar as The Cheater
- **Runtime:** 1h 50m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13
- **Release (the US):** 14 May 1933
- **Genres:** Drama, Thriller, Crime
- **Box office:** $35,274
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsVproWjN6c

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming
- Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-13
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AT, BR, CA, DE, ES, FI, GB, PL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Third Man* (1949), Fi1m 92: Another city whose criminal dealings make easy moral judgements difficult. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-third-man.md)
- *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: Patient police work becomes an uncomfortable examination of money and responsibility. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md)
- *The Night of the Hunter* (1955), Fi1m 91: Childhood fear rendered through precise images and a deeply alarming adult. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-night-of-the-hunter.md)
- *Memories of Murder* (2003), Fi1m 91: A murder investigation exposes the dangerous inadequacies of the men pursuing it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)
- *The Vanishing* (1988), Fi1m 88: Ordinary manners make a criminal’s behaviour harder, rather than easier, to bear. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-vanishing.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/m