M

A serial killer is targeting children in Berlin, and the police cannot stop him. Every new disappearance spreads fear through the city and turns neighbours suspicious of one another. The investigation, led by Inspector Karl Lohmann, relies on raids and dragnets that disrupt everyday life and, in particular, the business of the criminal underworld. Tired of the constant police pressure, the city's gangsters and beggars decide to hunt the murderer themselves, setting up a surveillance network across the streets while the killer, sensing he is being followed, tries to stay ahead of both pursuers.

Fritz Lang directed M, working from a screenplay he wrote with Thea von Harbou and Egon Jacobson. It was his sixth film as director, following Woman in the Moon and preceding The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Peter Lorre plays Hans Beckert, the killer, with Otto Wernicke as Lohmann, Ellen Widmann as Frau Beckmann and Inge Landgut as her daughter Elsie. Seymour Nebenzal produced it for Nero-Film AG, and around eighty performers are credited.

The film was released in Germany in May 1931 and runs 110 minutes. On IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from about 182,000 votes, and on TMDB 8.1 from roughly 2,500. A critics' rating of 9.9 out of 10 from 63 reviews places it above both audience scores.