M (1951)

M is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey. It is a remake of Fritz Lang’s 1931 German film of the same name about a child murderer. This version shifts the location of action from Berlin to Los Angeles and changes the killer’s name from Hans Beckert to Martin W. Harrow. Both versions of M were produced by Seymour Nebenzal, whose son, Harold, was associate producer of the 1951 version.

Director – Joseph Losey

Writers – Norman Reilly Raine (screen play by), Leo Katcher (screen play by), Waldo Salt (additional dialogue by)

Cast –
David Wayne as Martin W. Harrow
Howard Da Silva as Inspector Carney
Luther Adler as Dan Langley
Martin Gabel as Charlie Marshall
Steve Brodie as Lt. Becker
Raymond Burr as Pottsy
Glenn Anders as Riggert
Karen Morley as Mrs. Coster
Norman Lloyd as Sutro
John Miljan as Blind balloon vender
Walter Burke as MacMahan
Roy Engel as Police Chief Regan
Benny Burt as Jansen
Leonard Bremen as Lembre
Jim Backus as The Mayor
Janine Perreau as The last little girl
Frances Karath as Little girl in hallway
Robin Fletcher as Elsie Coster
Bernard Szold as Bradbury Building watchman
Jorja Curtright as Mrs. Stewart

Watch “M” (1951)

Plot

Martin W. Harrow (David Wayne) is a compulsive child-murderer, and the public demands of the mayor and police that he be caught. The police start a crackdown on criminal operations, dive bars and hangouts in the city, hoping that the murderer will turn up in one of the many raids. This pressure is preventing the city’s crime syndicate from doing business, and its boss, Marshall (Martin Gabel), organizes his forces to find and stop the murderer so that the police will stop the crackdown and Marshall can go back to business as usual. Meanwhile, Police Inspector Carney (Howard Da Silva) has a psychiatrist examining patients who have been released from mental hospitals as possible suspects.

At the same time that the police focus on Harrow, finding incriminating evidence – the shoes of the dead children – in his apartment, the criminals track him down with his intended next victim. They capture him, and place him on trial by his “peers” in the Los Angeles criminal underworld. Harrow makes an impassioned plea for his life, explaining that he is unable to stop himself from committing his unspeakable crimes. Just as he is about to be killed by the crowd, the police arrive to take him away, but not before Marshall has shot and killed his alcoholic lawyer, Dan Langley (Luther Adler).