- published: 20 May 2016
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M (German: M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder) is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre. It was written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou and was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously.
The film has become a classic which Lang himself considered his finest work.
The action opens with a group of children playing a game involving a song about a child murderer in the courtyard of an apartment building in Berlin. This foreshadows the appearance of Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), a serial killer who preys on children.
The longest part of the movie is concerned with the public's reaction to a series of child murders, the frantic police investigation and, finally, the city's criminals, who organize their own manhunt because their criminal enterprises are being hampered by ever-present police activities. The audience sees Beckert only briefly until the second half of the movie; his presence is occasionally acknowledged by showing merely his shadow, shots of his body or the sound of his whistling "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.
Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years. And there were two awards given in 1932 for 'Best Actor'. That's how there are 3 'Best Actor', 2 'Best Actress' awards for 1931 films.
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A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.
Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.
Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.