Director
Fritz Lang
Leading Actors/Actresses
Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Gründgens
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Ellen Widmann, Theodor Loos, Friedrich Gnaß
Genre
Drama, Thriller
Language
German
Awards
Nominated as one of Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies"
Date of Release
11th, May, 1931
Producer
Seymour Nebenzal
Setting and Context
Berlin, Germany, 1930. In the twilight of the Weimar Republic
Narrator and Point of View
third person omniscient
Tone and Mood
unsettling, suspenseful, intriguing
Protagonist and Antagonist
Inspector Lohmann is the protagonist. The criminals of the underworld are the antagonists. The serial killer Beckert can be considered both as the protagonist and the antagonist.
Major Conflict
Both the police and the underworld seek to hunt down Beckert, while Beckert tries to remain free.
Climax
When the serial killer Beckert notices the chalk mark M on his back, he realizes that his identity as the murderer has been disclosed.
Foreshadowing
When the children in the courtyard chant a song about the murder of children, it foreshadows Elsie’s murder.
Understatement
The details of Elsie’s murder are understated. The audience does not know by what means she met her death, because films in the 1930s did not allow the graphic depiction of murder on screens.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
There are many overhead shots. In these overhead shots, the characters look anonymous because we do not see their faces. Most of the characters in the city are presented in this impersonal fashion, through overhead shots. The audience cannot form attachments to these characters, because we do not see their faces very clearly.
Allusions
When the leader of the underworld repeatedly calls for Beckert to be eliminated, the director alludes to Nazi rhetoric. The Nazis are known for advocating the elimination of the Jews. Schränker’s speeches pay frequent allusions to Hitler’s mode of speech. Schränker himself can also be seen as a representation of Hitler. Not only does he employs Hitler’s mode of speech, he also fully endorses his methods.
Paradox
The criminals of the underworld say that Beckert is not a man but a beast. However, they go on to refer to him as a man. It is therefore a paradox, because if Beckert is a beast then he cannot be a man, but the criminals continue to call him a man.
Parallelism
The police and the underworld are portrayed as parallel forces. Both of them seek to hunt down the serial killer. Both of them hold meetings to discuss their tactics. Both of them hold a trial for Beckert. The police try Beckert in the court of law, while the underworld tries him in a kangaroo court. The director uses cross-cutting techniques to portray them as parallel forces that mirror each other.
