Fritz Lang’s masterpiece M was very interesting. When I first watched it I thought to myself “Is professor really having me watch something in German?” I was worried I would be too focused on trying to figure out what was going on and not look at the visual aspects. For roughly the first 3 minutes I had no idea where this was going to go. There were kids playing a game, what seemed to me like the games we use to play to pick who was it. For example “bubble gum bubble gum in a dish how many pieces do you wish….” Then the lady yelling at her just threw me off. It didn’t seem like the little girl was doing anything bad. The little girl came out of what I am pretty sure is a school and decided to walk across the street and nearly got hit. In the film she is walking down the street playing with a ball. At this point I was like this is really boring and isn’t going to go anywhere. The film stops on a sign that I have no idea what it says. I do not believe it is important although it stayed on the screen for a good 10 seconds or so. Then the mystery man in the top hat’s shadow appears. He says some words to the little girl and I found out that he said “That is a nice ball you have. What is your name?” (Thanks to the youtube comments) What I believe is the girls mother starts to worry as the time gets late. We then see the man in the hat buying the little girl a balloon. The mother starts calling for her daughter louder and louder. We then see the empty hallway, attic, the ball rolling out of the woods and the balloon floating into the power wires.

Overall in this 7 minute clip of M there are not too many words spoken. Even if there were I would not have been able to understand them. Lang did a remarkable job setting the emotion of the clip into the viewers. Starting out with the little girl playing with friends and walking down the street bouncing a ball made the viewer get a liking to the little girl. Having the mother prepare a table setting for the girl gave you the thought she was coming home. As the mother continued to look at the clock it made the viewer start to get the feeling the mom was getting anxious and worried. The major turning point of this short clip was the man’s shadow appearing on the poster. First of all it was super creepy that we didn’t see his actual body. Then he asks the girl a question. After that he buys her a balloon. Right then the viewer knows something is not right. The mother starts to get more worried. Viewers see her yelling for her daughter and on the screen the empty hallway, attic, and the empty placemat gives you the idea of something is wrong. Then to top it all off the girls ball rolls out of the woods and the balloon floats up into the power lines. Frank Lang strategically used visual aids to get the information out. The empty hallway, attic, and place mat tells you the girl is missing. The shadow of the man gives you the thought he is a stranger and him buying the girl a balloon makes you thing something is not right. But the ball rolling out of the woods and the balloon floating away gives the viewer the final piece to the puzzle. The girls is gone and the man took her or did something worse to her.