Criterion has announced that it will release Fritz Lang’s classic 1931 thriller, M, on Blu-ray disc May 11th. The German-language film chronicles the exploits of a sinister child murderer run amok on the streets of Berlin, unforgettably played by Peter Lorre. Although the film is nearing its 80th anniversary, to this day it embodies, as Criterion puts it, “the blueprint for the psychological thriller.”
The film is the latest in the Criterion catalogue to be upgraded to Blu-ray, and if their past work is any indication, purchasers should be pleased with the restored high-definition digital transfer, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. As an added incentive for collectors, the new edition will include an exclusive “long-lost English-language version of M.”
M is currently ranked at #57 on the IMDb “Top 250″ and is widely cited as one of the most chilling films ever released — praised in particular for its unique fusion between the expressionism of Lang’s native Germany, and the popular film noir plotting made popular in America.
The remainder of the extensive extras may sound familiar to owners of the standard-definition version, and are as follows:
- Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M, and Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife
- Documentary on the physical history of M, from production to distribution to digital restoration
- Conversation with Fritz Lang, a 50-minute film by William Friedkin
- Claude Chabrol’s M le Maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol by Pierre-Henri Gibert about Lang’s filmmaking techniques
- Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussing M and its history, set to clips from the film
- Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
- Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler
- Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles
The two-disc set is listed with a SRP of $39.99. All details can be found on the Criterion home page.
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