M 1931

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: The moral issues are complex and deftly handled: Lorre is at once entirely innocent and absolutely evil. Lang's detached, modified expressionist style gives the action a plastic beauty. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: This astonishing movie represents an unsurpassed grand synthesis of storytelling. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Few films are gripping and effective 82 years after their original release, but this one surely is. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film doesn't ask for sympathy for the killer Franz Becker, but it asks for understanding: As he says in his own defense, he cannot escape or control the evil compulsions that overtake him. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: It's an impeccable film -- a model of psychological suspense and a stunning display of Lang's power and skill. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: A subversive film, or more simply a movie brimming over with the ferment of Lang's imagination at its height? You choose. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: This is a movie that dares to sympathize with a sick person, that risks making the monster real and us (in an era when Germany's cinema was still shellacked in canted angles and fanciful shadows). Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: An extraordinary, good, impressive and strong talker. Again fine work by Fritz Lang, and his wife and helper, Thea von Harbou. Read more