M (1931) On Blu-Ray

Actor:           Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke, Gustaf Gründgens, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut
Director:      Fritz Lang
Genre:          Suspense/Thriller
Year:            1931
Studio:         Criterion
Length:        110
Released:   May 11, 2010
Rating:         Unrated (Video)
Format:        Blu-ray Hi-Def DVD 
Misc:            Black & White
Language:  German
Subtitles  :  English

DESCRIPTION:

A simple, haunting musical phrase whistled offscreen tells us that a young girl will be killed. "Who is the Murderer?" pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert, played by Peter Lorre (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon), closes in on little Elsie Beckmann. In his harrowing masterwork M, Fritz Lang (Metropolis, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes and Eric Rentschler
• The long-lost English-language version of M
• Documentary on the physical history of M
• Conversation with Fritz Lang, a fifty-minute film by William Friedkin
• Claude Chabrol's short film M le maudit and interview with Chabrol
• Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg
• Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producer
• Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos and production sketches
• Plus : A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann
• 1963 interview with director Fritz Lang
• The script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles