Director Joseph Losey’s postwar remake of Fritz Lang’s M (1931) transposes the story of a serial child killer from the streets of Berlin to Los Angeles’ now torn down Bunker Hill district. The script follows the original down to the last speech. David Wayne gives a masterful performance as the psychopathic killer, both sympathetic and horrifying, his face as forgettable as yesterday’s news.
35mm b/w, 90 min. Production: Superior Pictures, Inc. Distribution: Columbia Pictures Corp. Producer: Seymour Nebenzal. Director: Joseph Losey. Screenwriter: Norman Reilly Raine, Leo Katcher. Cinematographer: Ernest Lazlo. Editor: Edward Mann. Composer: Michel Michelet. With: David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler, Martin Gabel, Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr.
