M.

  M is by far one of the best classic films I've seen so far. It's probably not my favorite, but I did enjoy the film as much as I've enjoyed 'The General'. This movie, directed by Fritz Lang, is almost unlike any other films I’ve seen with a police procedural theme. I like how the film is different than any other police-style films there are today, and amazingly, it was made in 1931.

   If I were to write something about the first 10 minutes of the film is that the director, or the cinematographer, knew where to put the camera. This is true for any of a good film; it is that of where the camera is placed. It would have been a completely different feeling if it didn't track movements of the actors, or if it were to stay stationary most of the parts. I like the part when the camera moved towards Elsie Beckmann's mother when she opened the door. I might add that the part where Elsie Beckmann was abducted there were long still shots. I felt that it was trying to propose the idea of 'emptiness'. It's more of an expression rather than reality. If it were to incorporate realism, Elsie Beckmann would have been seen murdered by the murderer. Instead, while Elsie Beckmann's mother was echoing her name, the balloon that she was holding before that was stuck on an electric pole, and then there were shots of the empty staircase and the empty park when the ball was rolling. This scene was 'the scene' of the whole ten minutes; it made us wonder what really happened to Elsie Beckmann. To my demise, I really wondered how Elsie Beckmann was murdered.

   Secondly, notice how silent the first 10 minutes were. It was a cool, tension-laden scene. It's amazing how silence can say so much. Even the non-diagetic, credit roles contributed to some extend to the silence in the film. The sounds in the first 10 minutes of the film were actually silent in my opinion, even with sound. From the part where Elsie Beckmann sang a song about a murderer, to the part when the child murderer approached Elsie Beckmann with only a shadow was seen, to the part where the cuckoo clock made an alarm sound. It may have been the loud sound of silence. The climax to this first 10 minutes of the film was probably when she looked at the clock before the doorbell was heard. It wasn't very obvious but to me, it was the part when it confirmed that something happened to Elsie Beckmann. It was the part before she talked to the postman and knew that Elsie Beckmann wouldn't come home. Then it leads to her calling her daughter's name.

  Besides that, we knew the moment when Elsie Beckmann was talking to the man in the shadows that something would go wrong. In most films similar to this, we remember specific moments and utilize it during later scenes. For example, the part when the murderer whistled when he was buying Elsie Beckmann a balloon, we unconsciously remembered the whistle. In later part of the film, the 'motif' on capturing the murderer would be this whistle. Little things can be remembered, particularly if something was as insignificant as the sound of the whistle. It reminded me of a film called 'Departures', an Oscar-winning Japanese film. In that film, the littlest thing can mean the biggest meaning. The movie was about death but then there were a lot of cactuses in most parts of the film. I found out that cactuses are the only plants that do not die. It was ironic really.  Same goes to this movie in a way, we focus unconsciously on the smallest things that can make a difference in the whole film, and that was only the first 10 minutes of the film.

    In conclusion, the first 10 minutes of 'M' was a terrific form of expressionism as a meaning. The usage of still shots says a lot of things in relation to the sounds, the whistle and the lack use of music. It created a whole lot of tension just by seeing the first 10 minutes of the film.