Fritz Lang's "M"

Cool, great idea. I'm into it. To keep with tradition of a blog, I'm going to talk about myself. I've been writing a short for a while now on and off, and only recently have come to realise that it falls into the Noir genre. Not the cliched "light across the eyes" and strong silloughettes, but the tone and style of the film. Actually, the "Dark" from the "Noir" refers to the subject matter, not the look.

But, my background in Noir is limited to a few classics, so I thought I'd start at the beginning and work my way up. So, since Film Noir is derived from German Expressionist films ( "Nostferatu", "Metropolis" ) I went out and got a hold of a copy of Fritz Lang's "M"

Great great film. Was completly taken by surprise as to how well it held up. I guess stupid to say that about a classic, but I've seen some classics that didn't and really enjoyed every minute of this film. For those who don't know - its set in Germany in 1930, a child serial killer (pedophile? was implied, not shown), is on a spree. The city falls apart and people start accusing strangers. Scary stuff. Finally the mob get sick of all the extra police around and decide to track him down themselves. There are a million sites dedicated to deconstucting this film - I'm not going to go into it.

The camera work was amazing. I'm sure Fritz Lang defined many styles and techniques with "M". Some parts lookes hand held, but coulsn't tell if that was what he was going for or just the lack of steadycam tech back then. Either way there are these really nice shots tracking through windows into rooms, close ups of old gnarley faces. nice. He did alot of still shots where he set up the cam over a street and just let the action play out in a single shot. would look lazy in a film today I think, but worked with the style.

The best part thoough was Peter Lorre's acting. It was almost a pantomine how tourtured he was by his "sickness", but it definatly worked. Infact, everyone in the film was a cliche - the hard cop, the cold crim, and they moved in a sort of Buster Keaton style, holding exagerate poses for ages. Great reference for animation. But Peter Lorre definatly stole the show. check him out

He acts it so well that its creepy. But even so, you end up feeling sorry for him by the end. Which is more or less the point. The end of the film - without giving anything away - implies that the guilt lies not with him but his victems and their parents. The last line stays with you for a while. Infact their are many scenes that stick. Once the city starts turning on itself, people accuse random strangers which the mob turns on without a pause. Brutal. Like the car scene in "War of the Worlds".

Like all movies like this, can't believe it took me so long to watch it, and almost everyone I try to convince to see it already have. Guess I missed the boat. Either way, can definatly reccomend it. Going to work my way through many more. The next one is "Double Indemnity" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/ again another definative Noir film, and again, one I havn't seen.
-alex.

p.s. found a great quote on the definition of Noir - " At the heart of film noir was an attempt to subvert conventional Hollywood standards of plot (happy endings), character (morally upright heroes), and narrative structure (chronological storytelling). By rejecting those standards, the filmmakers were by extension rejecting the values of postwar urban America, portraying that society as hypocritical and hopelessly corrupt. In so doing, they created a uniquely American genre whose films are still powerful today."