M
1st Edition
Published on 25. March 2021
96 pages
978-1-83902-293-7 (ISBN)
Description
Fritz Lang's 'M' (1931) is an undisputed classic of world cinema. Lang considered it his most lasting work. Peter Lorre's extraordinary performance as the childlike misfit Hans Beckert was one of the most striking of film debuts, and it made him an international star. Lang's vision of a city gripped with fear, haunted by surveillance and total mobillization, is still remarkably powerful today. And 'M' resonates too in the serial-killer genre which is so prominent in contemporary cinema. 'M' speaks to us as a timeless classic, but also as a Weimar film that has too often been isolated from its political and cultural context. In this groundbreaking book, Anton Kaes reconnects 'M''s much-studied formal brilliance to its significance as an event in 1931 Germany, recapturing the film's extraordinary social and symbolic energy. Interweaving close reading with cultural history, Kaes reconstitutes 'M' as a crucial modernist artwork. In addition he analyzes Joseph Losey's 1951 film noir remake and, in an appendix, publishes for the first time 'M''s missing scene.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
illustrated
ISBN-13
978-1-83902-293-7 (9781839022937)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Anton Kaes is Chancellor's Professor of German and Film Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. He is the author of From Hitler to Heimat: The Return of History as Film (1989) and co-editor of The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994).
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Berlin, 1931
2. Serial Murder, Serial Culture
3. Total Mobilisation
4. Before the Law
5. Los Angeles, 1951
Appendix: The Missing Scene
Notes
Credits
Bibliography
Introduction
1. Berlin, 1931
2. Serial Murder, Serial Culture
3. Total Mobilisation
4. Before the Law
5. Los Angeles, 1951
Appendix: The Missing Scene
Notes
Credits
Bibliography
