M (1951)
Directed by Joseph Losey

Film Review

It was early in his career, whilst he was struggling to make a name for himself in Hollywood, that Joseph Losey accepted an invitation from Columbia Pictures to direct this remake of Fritz Lang's 1931 classic thriller M.  Losey had little enthusiasm for the project, which was initiated by Seymour Nebenzal, the man who had produced Lang's film, and his film proved to be a spectacular critical and commercial failure.  The film's controversial subject matter (child killings, hoodlums taking the law into their own hands, audience identification with the killer) made it a hard sell (predictably, the film was banned in several US states) but what sank it was its pretty blatant commentary on the anti-Communist hysteria that was, at the time, sweeping across America.

It is not hard to make the connection between the film's depiction of a frenzied pursuit of a serial killer and the insane Communist witch hunt that was in progress whilst the film was being made.  Not long after completing the film, Losey was himself called to account for his left-wing sympathies before the House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  Although Losey was never formally blacklisted, he subsequently found it hard to find work in Hollywood and was soon driven to leave the country and restart his career in Europe, which he did with remarkable success.  Losey was not the only film director to have his Hollywood career destroyed by the anti-Communist paranoia of the 1950s.

Losey's remake of M is not only a brave and insightful commentary on American society in the early 1950s; it is also a superb example of film noir - a stylish mix of suspense thriller and police procedural drama that is every bit as tense and imaginatively crafted as Lang's original film (albeit slightly less grimly atmospheric).   The film's cinematographer Ernest Laszlo was a favourite of film noir filmmakers, his credits including such noir classics as Impact (1949),  Manhandled (1949) and D.O.A. (1950).  The film's distinctive visual design undoubtedly owes as much to Laszlo as it does to Losey, and its extensive use of real locations (in downtown Los Angeles) gives it a realism and pace that many thrillers of this era lacked.  The last two reels of the film contain some of Losey's most inspired work - a nail-biting manhunt across town that culminates in a dramatic showdown within the claustrophobic confines of a shopping complex.  David Wayne's harrowing portrayal of the victimised killer is just as authentic as Peter Lorre's in Lang's film, and the spectator cannot help but sympathise with him when he falls foul of the vengeance-hungry mob and pleads pitifully, not for mercy, but for understanding.

The film's central moral is powerfully presented in the mock-trial sequence at the end of the film, and it still has an extraordinary resonance.  Given the era in which the film was made, it is hardly surprising that its thought-provoking message fell on deaf ears.  What is surprising is how relevant the film still is, how little things have really changed. Even in our enlightened times, it is still too easy to pluck out scapegoats and pin all of society's failings on them; it is much harder to pinpoint the real problems and determine how these might be resolved to make a real difference rather than just a feeble token gesture.  The persecution of an individual by the unthinking mob would figure in some of Joseph Losey's subsequent films - most notably King and Country (1964) and Monsieur Klein (1976) - but never with the intensity and sense of injustice and outrage that we find in his all but forgotten film maudit, M.

Film Synopsis

In downtown Los Angeles young children are being abducted and murdered by a mysterious killer.  The only thing to link the crimes is that the killer steals the shoes of each of his victims.  Soon the entire city is gripped by panic. Parents are terrified of allowing their children out to play in the streets and anyone offering help or treats to a child is immediately suspected of being the killer.  Working under intense public pressure, the police turn their attention to the city's criminal fraternity and are soon raiding gambling dens in a desperate attempt to find a lead.  One crime boss, Charlie Marshall, conceives a plan that will not only get the cops off his back but will also make them beholden to him.  He will organise the city's mobsters and petty criminals into a gigantic informer network, with the aim of capturing the anonymous killer.  Meanwhile, the police investigation is proceeding apace and the most promising suspect is a man named Martin Harrow who has recently been released from a psychiatric institution.  Will the police get to Harrow before the hoodlums?  And what kind of justice can the killer expect when he is caught...?