M
Riveting and frighteningly contemporary... cinematically dazzling. Lorre's performance is unforgettable.
-- Leonard Maltin
M
The German city of Dusseldorf is being terrorized by a murderer preying on young girls. When little Elsie Beckmann disappears and is found slain in the woods, the search intensifies, but the police are coming up empty-handed, succeeding only in disturbing the criminal
underworld in their fruitless search for the perpetrator.
In the interests of self-preservation, the criminals decide to solve the case among themselves and bring the murderer to justice. The gangsters enlist the help of the beggars, who act as a network of scouts. The police have simultaneously identified the murderer as Hans Beckert, a former asylum inmate. Unburdened by law or convention, the vigilantes beat them to the punch when they corner Beckert in an office building. They break in at night to pursue the criminal and find him in the lumber room, then bring him to a deserted factory where he is thrown in front of a kangaroo court of gangsters, thieves and murderers.
In a brilliant and horrifying scene, Beckert pleads for clemency because he cannot help himself – he is criminally insane. Begging to be turned over to the law, he is met with the snide observation that “We are all law experts here.” The angry mob cries for blood, but before Beckert can be executed, the police department comes on the scene and takes him in to custody.
About the Restoration
This is a new, 80th Anniversary 2K/4K restoration in Picture & Sound by TLEFilms Film Restoration & Preservation Services, Berlin Germany In Association with Archive francaises du film - CNC and PostFactory GmbH, Berlin Germany
underworld in their fruitless search for the perpetrator.
In the interests of self-preservation, the criminals decide to solve the case among themselves and bring the murderer to justice. The gangsters enlist the help of the beggars, who act as a network of scouts. The police have simultaneously identified the murderer as Hans Beckert, a former asylum inmate. Unburdened by law or convention, the vigilantes beat them to the punch when they corner Beckert in an office building. They break in at night to pursue the criminal and find him in the lumber room, then bring him to a deserted factory where he is thrown in front of a kangaroo court of gangsters, thieves and murderers.
In a brilliant and horrifying scene, Beckert pleads for clemency because he cannot help himself – he is criminally insane. Begging to be turned over to the law, he is met with the snide observation that “We are all law experts here.” The angry mob cries for blood, but before Beckert can be executed, the police department comes on the scene and takes him in to custody.
About the Restoration
This is a new, 80th Anniversary 2K/4K restoration in Picture & Sound by TLEFilms Film Restoration & Preservation Services, Berlin Germany In Association with Archive francaises du film - CNC and PostFactory GmbH, Berlin Germany
Genre
Thriller/Suspense
Web Site
Runtime
111
Language
German
Director
Fritz Lang
FEATURED REVIEW
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Peter Lorre stars in Fritz Lang's sympathetic and terrifying story of a child murderer, made in Germany in 1931. The underworld joins forces with the police in tracking down Lorre's plump, helpless maniac because his atrocities have interrupted the course of crime-as-usual. The moral issues are ...
Played at
Pasadena
Playhouse 7
North Hollywood
NoHo 7
West L.A.
Royal
M Get Tickets
There are currently no showtimes for this film. Please check back soon.