Characteristic Of Film Noir In M example essay topic

Into the Underworld The film M, directed by Fritz Lang and written by K aes, was created in 1931. The movie was made right after the German Expressionistic movement ended in 1926. M takes place in Berlin, Germany, where a child murderer is on the loose. The murderer, Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre), has been creating problems for the criminal underworld's businesses, so they too, along with the police, are interested in capturing Beckert. The story develops in a desolate urban landscape which includes many dark streets, buildings, alleys, and bars. In the film M, Lang uses elements of mise-en-scene and many components of film noir to create a film with an expressionistic style.

Throughout the entire film, Lang uses mise-en-scene to drive the narrative forward. In the beginning of the movie, the viewer sees a scene of children playing near their apartment buildings and singing songs about a "boogeyman". Soon after that, Elsie Beckmann is kidnapped and without seeing her again, the audience is able to piece together the story and conclude that she was murdered. Lang uses combination of shots to suggest her death.

First is Elsie's ball coming to rest in a deserted field, then a balloon is seen floating up into power lines. During these shots, Lang also shows Elsie's mother frantically screaming and looking for Elsie, while the sound of her voice screaming "Elsie" is repeating in the background. The actual murder is never shown, but by watching these shots in sequence, the audience assumes that she is dead. Lang wrote that this use of mise-en-scene and expressionism, "forces each individual member of the audience to create the gruesome details of the murder according to his personal imagination". # This style tends towards expressionism because elements of the mise-en-scene were combined together to create an overall composition. Another element of mise-en-scene used in the film is the motif of whistling.

The audience hears Beckert whistle the tune "Hall of the Mountain King" the first time he is seen, and then the whistling is heard again later in the movie. In this case, not only do the viewers associate the whistling with the murderer, but so does a blind man who once sold a balloon to Beckert. This element of M is also expressionistic because once again, nothing is shown to the audience, but they are supposed to connect the whistling themselves. The setting combined with the camera work in M creates a very expressionistic atmosphere.

Lang uses enormous high-angle camera shots of the streets of Berlin. These shots suggest confusion, danger, and a feeling of hopelessness for catching the murderer. The settings used are dark, gloomy clubs and bars, alleys, and unfriendly streets. The scenes in M look like real life homes, streets, bars, and offices complete with the people one would expect to see in any of those places. During bar raids, the audience gets a sense of the dark, underworld atmosphere that is present in the movie.

The camera also uses some cross-cutting to show that the police and the criminals are both working separately at the same thing. An example of cross-cutting is when the underworld leader is meeting with his associates and the camera does a match cut to the police meeting. This camera work is used for expressive purposes. Lighting plays a huge role in the way that the film appears to the audience. Lang uses low-key or soft illumination in M. This lighting style creates strong contrasts and sharp, dark shadows which give the film its eerie, mysterious feel. In the beginning of the movie, instead of seeing Beckert when he first encountered Elsie, only his shadow is seen.

His shadow is gigantic and distorted unrealistically which was common in German Expressionism. Everything in the movie appears dark and gloomy due to the low key lighting. In the streets there are huge shadows and the roads look like they are wet. The soft lighting and the shadows convey a sense of unknown and mystery to the audience. The acting in this movie is very expressive in that it is exaggerated emotionally and physically.

For example, when Beckert is defending himself against the mob during the last scene, he speaks with extreme hand motions and facial expressions which are very unrealistic in real life. However, Beckert's acting combined with the sympathy of some in the frenzied mob, and the anger of the underworld leader creates a feeling of understanding for the criminal in the audience. Here, mise-en-scene was used to create an expressionist scene in the film as various shots which combined the set, the actors, the props, and sound were pieced together to create an overall feeling or atmosphere in the viewer's mind. Another aspect of expressionism present in the film is the symbolism that Lang uses by always showing Beckert in a relatively uncrowded area. In most of the movie, everyone is crammed into police offices, night clubs, or bars, or hundreds of people are out on the streets; however, every time that the viewer sees Beckert, he is either alone or with a small group. This use of expressionism forces the audience to see that Lang attempts to show Beckert as an outsider in their society.

This isolation is especially apparent in the last scene when he along with his one lawyer pleads and begs against a mob of hundreds of men. Along with expressionism, film noir is also a big influence on M. In fact, M has nearly all of the characteristics of a film noir film except for a "femme fatale". Some of the primary moods in M are evil, paranoia, pessimism, and bleakness, all of which are common in film noir. Another way in which M fits into the film noir category is that it is a detective story that involves detectives, cops, criminals, gangsters, and murderers.

In the film, the protagonists or heroes are not morally good people. The leader of the underworld is one of the protagonists in M and he is a morally ambiguous character from the dark underworld of violent crime and corruption. This is a hero who would only be found in a film noir style film. Another characteristic of film noir in M is that the film shows the dark and inhumane side of human nature. The low-key, expressionistic lighting coupled with the high camera angles of the murky, dark streets of Berlin create a distinctly film noir style.

The urban night scenes with deep shadows, and wet streets are also characteristics of both expressionism and film noir. M definitely fits into the category of both film noir and expressionism, both of which share many of the same aspects mentioned above. The film was pieced together through montage to create a visual effect designed to let the audience imagine parts of the story. Lang also used elements of mise-en-scene to drive the plot forward without showing every piece of the story, but instead he expressed it well enough in his shots to allow the audience to figure out for themselves what had happened. Through the use of expressionism, film noir, and the incorporation of mise-en-scene, Lang created a masterpiece in M.

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