M - 1951 Joseph Losey

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Joseph Losey
USA 1951

It only required one viewing to realize that the ’51 M is a criminally undervalued film – for a variety of unfair reasons – and one of the very best noirs from that year, if not the best. Even if it was a turkey, it still would be essential viewing for the performances of its exceptional cast, the spectacularly shabby Los Angeles/Bunker Hill location settings of the period and the mesmerizing cinematography of Ernest Laszlo. It’s a near classic if not a full-fledged one, and one that complements the original’s vision and power as opposed to diminishing it, demonstrating pretty effectively that the social conditions which produced such a film in early 1930s Germany could be successfully transported to 1950s noir-era America.

Excerpt of review from Carl (Noir of the Week) located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 1951 (USA)

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DVD Review: Retro Flix - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Retro Flix Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:24:54
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.65 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Retro Flix Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: Keepcase Chapters 18

Comments

After suffering through unwatchable and unauthorized DVD of M (1951) from Retro Flix purchased at Movies Unlimited, I decided to check other alternatives for this movie available on-line or through collector-to-collector traders. While still not pristine like an authorized release would be, at least this film is now watchable and not distorted. There is still damage and cue marks, but I wasn't charged $19.99 from what I thought a respectable on-line store, especially being associated with Turner Classic Movies web site. At least the DVD was removed from TCM's own store (it was listed there before), but it is still listed at Movies Unlimited, although with a different artwork. You'll be better off downloading this film from torrents or obtaining it in some other way; Columbia/Sony no longer have rights for this film, so there is little chance we will see authorized copy of it any time soon.

- Gregory Meshman

In 1950, a producer Seymour Nebenzal who, in 1931, produced the original Fritz Lang's M HERE decided to remake that classic film and update it to American setting. Filmed in and around Los Angeles by director Joseph Losey and cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, the film was made in at a wrong time with HUAC paranoia at its peak. Losey would eventually be forced to get out of US to make movies first in Italy and eventually in U.K. The film had a small distribution by Columbia, but the rights to the film were eventually returned to Nebenzal. Thus, the film never received an official video release. When I saw a DVD being sold at Movies Unlimited website HERE I got very excited since I wanted to see it and compare to the Lang's original. Unfortunately it is the same murky video transfer made from 16mm that has been around and sold on the net from various bootleg companies. The pressed DVD comes from some elusive company RetroFlix and is only available at Movies Unlimited. The transfer, while watchable, is not by any acceptable standard.

It has all the limitations of a tape transfer, even at one point the video and sound started skipping for a few frames like in a broken VCR. There are no menus and the film starts playing as soon as you insert the disc. Here's the blurb about the film from the back cover: "Remake of the 1931 original. Someone is murdering children in a German [sic] city. The Police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible."

- Gregory Meshman

Screen Captures