Honourable Mention: M (1951)

I looked at the classic Fritz Lang film M (1931), which is by no means a vampire film, because the film was produced whilst the crimes of Peter Kürten, the so called Vampire of Düsseldorf, were in the public mind – it seems likely that the killer of the film was partially based on Kürten, though it was denied. The film dialogue also mentions another serial killer who was dubbed vampire, Fritz Haarmann (not mentioned in this remake).

The original film was stunning and there was an English language version released. It was not, however, planned as a dual language project and Lang never acknowledged the English version – produced in 1932. The film is on the M Blu-Ray, is shortened (90 minutes against 110) and whilst it had some scenes reshot with new actors is mostly a dub. Interestingly Peter Lorre was dubbed by himself – making M (technically) his first English language film. The film immediately hit me with an inherent racism – the children’s song that opens the original shoot of the film about a murderous man in black, sung by the kids in response to the ongoing murders, becomes a song about a murderous “Chinaman” – racially othering the killer. This article is not about that film, however.

David Wayne as Harrow

M was remade and moved to America in 1951 and directed by Joseph Losey. Mostly a faithful rendition we get some differences – such as opening credit scenes where the murderer, Martin W. Harrow (David Wayne), is seen stalking several children. The whistling is still included but it is no longer the Hall of the Mountain King and this murderer takes a trophy – the children’s shoes (which is instrumental in the police learning his identity, the letter to the press is removed from the plot). Very different is the fact that he seems to simply kill them (like the original, we do not actually see a murder) – we get the dialogue that the victims “were neither violated nor outraged” – whereas the suggestion was that the murders in the original film were bloodier. When the local hoods searching for him find him with his last abduction, the M on his coat seems large and is drawn on with billiard chalk rather than transferred across, and he takes that child into the hiding place with him.

struggling for control

This version of M is absolutely competent as a piece of cinema but it lacks the underlying brilliance of the original. That said, David Wayne is very good as Harrow – showing a man conflicted, pushed to commit devastating crimes and struggling to control himself. A scene as he watches a toy trainset, with a young girl by him, is a superb acting scene by him and we see him at another point find a grounded bird, pick it up, be on the verge of destroying it and managing to control the impulse long enough to release it. This is worth seeing, but it can’t escape the shadow of its progenitor.

The imdb page is here.