M (1951)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Leo Katcher (scenario revisions)
Norman Reilly Raine (scenario revisions)
(more)

Release Date:

March 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller | Crime

Plot:

In this Americanization of the 1931 German thriller, both the police and the criminal underworld stalk a mysterious killer who preys on small children.

Plot Keywords:

Underworld | Remake | Racketeer | Based On Article | Dead Children

Cast

David Wayne	...	Martin W. Harrow
Howard Da Silva	...	Inspector Carney
Martin Gabel	...	Charlie Marshall, crime boss
Luther Adler	...	Dan Langley
Steve Brodie	...	Lt. Becker
Raymond Burr	...	Pottsy
Glenn Anders	...	Riggert
Norman Lloyd	...	Sutro
Walter Burke	...	MacMahan
John Miljan	...	Blind Baloon Vendor
Roy Engel	...	Police Chief Regan
Janine Perreau	...	The Last Little Girl
Leonard Bremen	...	Lemke, thug left behind in Bradbury Bldg. (as Lennie Bremen)
Benny Burt	...	Jansen, drunk thug outside Bradbury Bldg.
Bernard Szold	...	Bradbury Bldg. Watchman
Robin Fletcher	...	Elsie Coster
Karen Morley	...	Mrs. Coster
Jim Backus	...	The Mayor
Jorja Curtright	...	Mrs. Stewart
Frances Karath
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Sam (uncredited)
Madge Blake	...	Police Station Witness (uncredited)
Ewing Miles Brown	...	(uncredited)
Lonnie Burr	...	Child Victim (uncredited)
Virginia Farmer	...	Harrow's Landlady (uncredited)
Alvin Hammer	...	Father (uncredited)
John Indrisano	...	(uncredited)
Sherry Jackson	...	Little Girl (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Woman in Mob (uncredited)
Tom Kennedy	...	Hood (uncredited)
Norman Leavitt	...	Harry Greer, a bistro patron (uncredited)
Hank Mann	...	Man in Mob (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Detective Questioning Blonde About License Plate (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Man in Mob (uncredited)
Stanley Prager	...	Police Detective (uncredited)
Jack Roper	...	Man in Mob (uncredited)
William Schallert	...	Rorschach Test Subject (uncredited)
Brick Sullivan	...	Cop (uncredited)
Peter Virgo	...	Harry Dennis, Jaywalker (uncredited)
Ray Walker	...	Detective (uncredited)
Dick Wessel	...	Policeman Ticketing Jaywalker (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Onlooker (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph Losey

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Leo Katcher		scenario revisions
Fritz Lang		scenario (uncredited)
Norman Reilly Raine		scenario revisions
Waldo Salt		additional dialogue
Thea von Harbou		scenario (uncredited)

Produced by
Harold Nebenzal	....	associate producer
Seymour Nebenzal	....	producer

Original Music by
Michel Michelet

Cinematography by
Ernest Laszlo

Film Editing by
Edward Mann

Art Direction by
Martin Obzina

Set Decoration by
Edward R. Robinson		(as Ray Robinson)

Makeup Department
Ted Larsen	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ben Hersh	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Aldrich	....	assistant director
Jack R. Berne	....	second second assistant director

Sound Department
Leon Becker	....	sound
Mac Dalgleish	....	sound re-recordist

Music Department
Bert Shefter	....	musical director

Other crew
John Hubley	....	production layout
Robert H. Justman	....	production assistant
Don Weis	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Superior Pictures

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• Eureka Entertainment (2010) (UK) (DVD) (& Blu-ray release)
• Darker Images Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

Germany:86 min (Berlin Film Festival) | USA:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1951) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Superior Pictures

Movie Connections:

References The Red Shoes (1948)

M (Joseph Losey, 1951) ***

I commemorated the 25th anniversary from the death of director Joseph Losey (which occurred on 22nd June 1984) by watching his two best (and, ironically, rarest) Hollywood movies, both noirs made in 1951 – THE PROWLER and M. Fritz Lang's original 1931 version of the latter is not only generally considered to be its director's masterpiece but, on a personal note, is also included in my all-time Top 20 movies. Therefore, I had always been particularly interested in seeing how Losey (another director I admire a great deal) had tackled the daunting task of remaking – and relocating to L.A. – such an iconic German movie. Boasting the original's own producer, Seymour Nebenzal, the 1951 remake has been almost impossible to see and, actually, I only managed to track down a mediocre-looking print a few months ago; even so, I am certainly grateful to have been given the opportunity to catch up with it…especially in view of the fact that Sony's long-rumored Joseph Losey box set on R1 did not materialize after all! Perhaps inevitably, the film's initial stages (the murder of little Elsie) closely resemble those of Lang's film – even down to the choice of camera set-ups: the high angle shot down an eerily desolate flight of stairs, the close-up of the vacant breakfast table, the tell-tale shots of a solitary flying balloon and a rolling ball – but Losey nevertheless manages to gradually make the film his own, culminating in a trademark hysterical finale that highlights a new character not featured in the original: Luther Adler's alcoholic attorney who is, ill-advisedly, moved to turn against his boss Martin Gabel after the baby-killer's confession. David Wayne – best-known until then for playing lightly comic roles – is quite good in his own right (especially during the aforementioned trial sequence) if, understandably, falling short of Peter Lorre's unforgettable original characterization; similarly (and effectively) cast against type, Howard Da Silva makes for a fine Chief of Police, while the sterling supporting cast includes Raymond Burr (also atypically amusing as a raspy-voiced, leading underworld thug), Steve Brodie (as a sadistic cop), Glenn Anders and Jim Backus (as the mayor)! Interestingly enough, two directors-to-be were employed in minor capacities on this film: assistant director Robert Aldrich and script supervisor Don Weis. Allegedly, Fritz Lang balked at Nebenzal's offer to direct the remake himself and never forgave Losey for daring to touch his magnum opus…he must have conveniently forgotten the fact that he had himself remade in Hollywood two Jean Renoir classics – LA CHIENNE (1931) and LA BETE HUMAINE (1938) – as SCARLET STREET (1945) and HUMAN DESIRE (1954) respectively!