So, the DVD of L'atalante I ordered on ebay arrived today. The listing said it was coded for all regions. This, was a lie. It's Korean region coded. Fortunately all I spent on it was $4.99, but according to the seller's return policy I'm responsible for shipping charges on returns, so I wouldn't even make anything back.
All the other L'atalante DVDs I've found are absurdly expensive. Luckily the VHS is really cheap. Which will possibly be the last VHS I ever buy.
M (1931, Lang):
M might be the earliest talkie in my collection. You can kind of tell it's Fritz Lang's first talkie, because there are a lot of exaggerated facial expressions. M is about a serial child murderer. The focus isn't on the murders, but rather the public hysteria caused by the murders. Whereas a newer film would probably show the killings in graphic detail, M simply shows the killer buying a child a balloon, and the next day she's disappeared.
People accuse each other of being the killer because they gave a child the time of day. Witnesses can't even agree on what color hat the suspect was wearing. All the vagaries of investigating a crime that terrifies the public are shown. Only it's not just the police looking for the killer. The mob is looking for him too, at the same time, racing the police to find him because they prefer mob justice to legal justice. With this contrast the film analyzes the difference between the two and which is more preferable, and makes the case for giving killers legal protections even at the ire of the general public.
The plot is kept simple and to the point, without distracting melodrama, self righteous speeches or tangental side stories. That kind of simplicity of focus is something that a lot of newer films could probably benefit from.
Rating: **** 1/2 / 5
6/100
Next: Andrei Rublev, Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane
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