M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

Fritz Lang's first sound film is partly based on actual events at the time - a series of child murders - but does not use the subject to create suspense but to portray social conditions with bitter irony. Mass hysteria takes up a lot of space. The efficient organisation of the underworld and its success in tracking down the murderer illustrate the incompetence of the police. The grim humour makes M a surprisingly funny film, the implications of which were well understood - even by the Nazis, who protested against the original title "Murderers Among Us".