WEEKEND RENTALS:

Dial M for Murderer: Fritz Lang's M is a must-see movie (SHANNON SUTLIEF, 8/26/04, Dallas Observer)

[Fritz] Lang--known best for his 1927 silent sci-fi classic Metropolis--is honored with Friday and Saturday midnight screenings of M, a first and best in many categories, including movies with sound, crime dramas, film noir and serial-killer profiles. M slowly and deliberately unveils the identity of a child murderer using seemingly innocent scenes and intimating at the violence off-screen through the bleak, empty scenes used. It takes a turn when both the police department and the criminal underground (whose "businesses" are hurt during the increased police attention) begin the manhunt, using different tactics.

Besides being a required film, M is one of those rare pieces of cinema that force the viewers to notice the filmmaking.

Scarlet Street and The Big Heat are both terrific too, but a real treat has just come out on DVD, a serial he did that's set in India and features tigers, snake gods, and statuary out of Russ Meyers--it's being marketed as Fritz Lang's Indian Epic.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 27, 2004 11:13 AM