M

Introduced by Tom Gunning

Dir. Fritz Lang. 1931, 110 mins. Germany. 35mm. With Peter Lorre. Tracking the search for serial killer Hans Beckert (Lorre) in a haunted cityscape, Fritz Lang’s most celebrated film is at once a late-Weimar era milestone and a vivid precursor to film noir, with the chilling use of a musical phrase whistled offscreen to announce that a murder is imminent. In his definitive study The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and Modernity, Gunning writes of M that “the studied ambiguity and ambivalence of its themes, the power of its images and sound guarantee it a place in film history and film criticism no matter how much canons are abjured or the idea of masterpieces viewed with suspicion.”

Tickets: $17.50 / $12 senior and students / $10 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.