A bit of background. The movie "M" was Fritz Lang's first "Talkie", originally released in 1931 starring Peter Lorre. The basic plot of the film involves the finding of a serial killer whose victims are children. The movie does an excellent job of showing how the murders and police hunt have affected people from various walks of life from a large German city. The film is modern, in the sense that it deals with many issue still prevalent in the world today. For example, is a person responsible for a crime when he is suffering from a mental defect, how much power should be given to the police to fight crime before it infringes on personal liberties, and many more.

The disc:
Unlike many Criterion titles, this disc has no extras. The soundtrack is in German (mono), with the option of English subtitles. The video quality is quite good considering the age of the film. There is some brightness fluctuation and some grain, but considering the film was made in Germany in 1931, the print is quite good. My only other complaint is the subtitles. I can understand some German, and the subtitles seemed to miss some key elements in the film by not properly translating some phrases.

Overall, I enjoyed this disc, if you are fan of film history or enjoy older movies this is a must get.

Bearfan

BearFan: Great review.

I love this movie, and think the disc looks great considering it's age. I wish it had more extras, and I think you're right; the subtitles were substandard.



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http://www.dvdtracker.com/~ahber16.asp

I recently picked this up and what can I say: right on hte mark BearFan. This is TERRIFIC movie though. Wish the subs were better but I am glad I have it.

xcheckers gets the digging up the oldest post with the search feature award

[This message has been edited by BearFan (edited May 04, 2000).]