"Actor: Ellen Widmann"

• M (Masters of Cinema) Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (14/11/2011) from £13.35   |  Saving you £6.64 (49.74%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Of all Fritz Lang’s creations, none have been more innovative or influential than M, the film that launched German cinema into the sound era with stunning sophistication and mesmerising artistry. A spate of child killings has stricken a terrified Berlin. Peter Lorre gives a legendary performance as the murderer Hans Beckert, who soon finds himself chased by all levels of society.From cinema’s first serial killer hunt, Lang pulls back to encompass social tapestry, police procedural, and underworld conspiracies in an astonishingly multi-faceted and level-headed look at a deeply incendiary topic. One of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time, M remains as fresh and startling 80 years on. Special Features: Restored high-definition transfer in the correct 1.19:1 aspect ratio [1080p on Blu-ray] Two audio commentaries: one by German film scholars Anton Kaes and Eric Rentschler; the other featuring film restoration expert Martin Koerber, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, historian Torsten Kaiser and excerpts from Bogdanovich’s 1965 interviews with Lang The original 1932 British release version of M, presented in its entirety, recently rediscovered, featuring different actors, alternate takes, and Peter Lorre’s first performance in English, courtesy of the BFI National Archive [1080p on Blu-ray, 93 mins] Zum Beispiel Fritz Lang, a 1968 documentary by Erwin Leiser with Fritz Lang discussing his career in German cinema [480p, 21 minutes] 48-Page Booklet including writing by Fritz Lang, historian Robert Fischer, details of a missing scene, behind-the-scenes stills, and production drawings

• M | DVD | (27/08/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Of all Fritz Lang's creations none have been more innovative or influential than M the film that launched German cinema into the sound era with stunning sophistication and mesmerising artistry. A spate of child killings has stricken a terrified Berlin. Peter Lorre gives a legendary performance as the murderer Hans Beckert who soon finds himself chased by all levels of society. From cinema's first serial killer hunt Lang pulls back to encompass social tapestry police procedural and underworld conspiracies in an astonishingly multi-faceted and level-headed look at a deeply incendiary topic. One of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time M remains as fresh and startling almost 80 years on.

• M - A Film by Fritz Lang | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fritz Lang's first sound movie, the serial-killer film M, has often been voted the best German film of all time, but, until now, most of us have never seen it properly. What we have seen is a heavily cut 1950s re-edit with extra sound and music patched in, where Lang was deliberately economical with the new technology. This new "Ultimate Edition" is dominated by a marvellous restoration which is true to his intentions and oft-voiced complaints about what had been done to his best film. The young Peter Lorre is terrifyingly ordinary as the child-murderer whom police and criminals hunt down in what is still one of the best forensic police procedurals ever made, while Gustaf Grundgens has effortless charisma as the chief gangster. Lorre's Hollywood exile and decay, and Grundgens' betrayal of old friends and principles under the Nazis, merely add a layer of irony to all this. Lang's ironic cuts--a gangster's gesture is completed by his police equivalent--and dark, studio-bound cinematography make this one of the great precursors of American film noir. Simply, seen without cracks and pops and lines running down the screen, M is revealed as a true classic--a film that shames everything made in its genre since. On the DVD: M on disc has a great deal of documentary material featuring scholars and technicians telling us just how clever they have been in preparing this splendid restoration. The film also comes with a detailed commentary into which has been spliced interview material with Lang talking in English about specific sequences. There is a German-language film interview with Lang in which he talks through his career and re-enacts the interview with Goebbels that led to his exile; an audio interview with Peter Bogdanovich; and an intelligent video critical essay by film historian R Dixon Smith. The restored film is shown in its correct, unusual visual aspect ratio of 1.90:1 and has vivid cleaned-up digital mono sound: the murderer's whistling of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" has never sounded so chilling. --Roz Kaveney

• M | Blu Ray | (22/02/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Of all Fritz Lang's creations none have been more innovative or influential than M the film that launched German cinema into the sound era with stunning sophistication and mesmerising artistry. A spate of child killings has stricken a terrified Berlin. Peter Lorre gives a legendary performance as the murderer Hans Beckert who soon finds himself chased by all levels of society. From cinema's first serial killer hunt Lang pulls back to encompass social tapestry police procedural and underworld conspiracies in an astonishingly multi-faceted and level-headed look at a deeply incendiary topic. One of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time M remains as fresh and startling almost 80 years on.

• M | DVD | (13/09/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Peter Lorre made film history with his startling performance as a psychotic murderer of children. Too elusive for the Berlin police, the killer is sought and marked by underworld criminals who are feeling the official fallout for his crimes. This riveting, 1931 German drama by Fritz Lang--an early talkie--unfolds against a breathtakingly expressionistic backdrop of shadows and clutter, an atmosphere of predestination that seems to be closing in on Lorre's terrified villain. M is an important piece of cinema's past along with a number of Lang's early German works, including Metropolis and Spies. (Lang eventually brought his influence directly to the American cinema in such films as Fury, They Clash by Night and The Big Heat.) M shouldn't be missed. This original 111-minute version is a little different from what most people have seen in the cinema. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• M | DVD | (09/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A psychotic child murderer stalks a city and despite an exhaustive investigation fueled by public hysteria and outcry the police have been unable to find him. But the police crackdown does have one side-affect it makes it nearly impossible for the organized criminal underground to operate. So they decide that the only way to get the police off their backs is to catch the murderer themselves. Besides he is giving them a bad name.

• Metropolis/M - Ultimate Box | DVD | (22/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Metropolis: Set around the year 2000 a mammoth city is ruled by the super-efficient industrialist Jon Fredersen (Alfred Abel) and on the surface appears to be a utopian dream with wealthy inhabitants living in palatial apartments set in colossal glass and concrete spires. But underground it's a different story - armies of slaves work gruelling shifts to maintain the luxurious lifestyles of their masters. The workers a subhuman species of sluggish creatures are led by the saintly Maria (Brigitte Helm) who urges them not to rebel but to wait patiently for the arrival of the mediator. Fredersen kidnaps Maria and orders mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klien-Rogge) to create a robot replica to take her place. His plan is doomed when the evil mechanical Maria incites the massed workers to revolt and destroy everything in sight... Taking 16 months to film with a cast of 37 383 and costing over million at 1920s prices everything about this epic German science-fiction film which was inspired by the towering Manhattan skyline is gigantic. Although director Fritz Lang hated the ending of his film it was an instant hit with Adolf Hitler and Goebbels who first saw it in a small German town. When they came to power in 1933 they asked Lang to make prestige pictures for the Nazi party. He packed his bags and left for Hollywood the same day. On its first release it was a box-office flop and nearly bankrupted its financiers UFA Germany's largest film production company. Metropolis is now a monument to Fritz Lang's artistic vision and film craftsmanship. M: Like a brand the letter M has made its mark on film history with its disturbing theme having lost none of its impact or relevance. Sinister dark and foreboding M tells the story of Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) - child molester and murderer. Tension builds - a child late home another child missing. Posters reveal the fate of earlier victims and the police seem to have few clues as to the perpetrator of the crimes. Gangsters beggars and petty criminals incensed by both the crimes and the police crackdown track the killer themselves. Cornered caught and dragged off to face an equally barbaric form of justice Beckert endures his own personal torment. As with his earlier classics Die Nibelungen and Metropolis Lang collaborated on the script with his wife Thea von Harbou in what was to become his most stark and uncompromising film. Allegedly based on the story of Peter K''rten the Monster of Dusseldorf M remains one of the most chilling serial-killer films ever produced.