Description:

A simple, haunting phrase whistled off-screen tells us that a young girl will be killed. “Who is the murderer?” pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) closes in on little Elsie Beckmann… In his harrowing masterwork , Fritz Lang merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller. The Criterion Collection is proud to present a new restoration of this landmark film.

Special Features:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by German film scholar Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife, and Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M
• Conversation with Fritz Lang, an interview film by William Friedkin
• Claude Chabrol’s M le Maudit, a short film inspired by M
• Classroom tapes of M editor Paul Falkenberg discussing the film and its history
• Interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
• A physical history of M
• Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, and the script for a missing scene