Main Cast: David Wayne, Luther Adler, Howard Da Silva, Martin Gabel, Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr
Release Year: 1951
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
It took nerve for director Joseph Losey to attempt a remake of Fritz Lang's classic chiller M, but by and large Losey was up to the challenge. David Wayne steps into the old Peter Lorre role as the compulsive child-murderer who is tracked down and then placed on trial by the criminal underworld. Whereas the original was set in Berlin, the remake takes place in Los Angeles. Syndicate chieftain Marshall (Martin Gabel) organizes his fellow crooks in order to bring "M" to justice, thereby keeping the police off their own backs. Found guilty by his "peers" and sentenced to death, "M" makes an impassioned plea for his life, explaining that he is unable to stop himself from committing his unspeakable crimes. Filmed just before Joseph Losey was banned from Hollywood in the wake of the communist witch-hunt, M features such fellow blacklist victims as Howard da Silva, Luther Adler and Karen Morley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Martin Obzina - Art Director, Joseph Losey - Director, Edward Mann - Editor, Michel Michelet - Composer (Music Score), Bert Shefter - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ted Larsen - Makeup, Ernest Laszlo - Cinematographer, Seymour Nebenzal - Producer, Edward Ray Robinson - Set Designer, Adolf Jansen - Screen Story, Paul Falkenberg - Screen Story, Norman Reilly Raine - Screenwriter, Waldo Salt - Screenwriter, Leo Katcher - Screenwriter, Egon Jacobson - Book Author, Karl Vash - Short Story Author
Acclaimed for his mid-'80s house show on London pirate station LWR, Jazzy M (aka Michael Schiniou) worked at and later owned a record store (Vinyl Zone) devoted to selling the hard-to-find Chicago imports. Through the store, he released Orbital's debut single "Chime" and founded the Jumpin' and Pumpin' label, which was the first home of Future Sound of London, among others. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
The film was shot on location in downtown Los Angeles, including the now demolished slum neighborhood of Bunker Hill. David Wayne's murderous character lived at an eccentric Victorian mansion on Bunker Hill Avenue known as the Max Heindel house, because Heindel, a famous astrologer on the early twentieth century, had once lived there. A couple of scenes were shot on and around the funicular Angels Flight on Third Street. But the most spectacular location footage takes place within a lengthy sequence shot inside the famous Bradbury Building on the southeast corner of Broadway and Third (just a block east of Angels Flight). Director Losey used the basement, the distinctive stairways and balconies, and the roof of the building. The Bradbury, which has been used in many films because of its unique wrought-iron and brick beauty, remains a popular but restricted tourist attraction today.
Plot
In this Americanized remake of the 1931 German film of the same name, both the police and the criminal underworld stalk a mysterious killer who preys on small children.
