DVDs in Review

M (Blu-ray)

Title: M (1931)

Release date: February 22 2010

Certificate: PG

Format: Blu-ray

Blu-ray RRP: £24.99

Rating: 5/5

Director Fritz Lang consistently made fantastic films that broke boundaries, but his two greatest achievements were the sci-fi parable 'Metropolis' and the dark, twisted serial killer thriller 'M'. Both were way ahead of their time, and both have definitely stood its test.

Newly released on Blu-ray, 'M' offers another look at what it said to be cinema's first ever serial killer hunt. It was also Lang's first sound feature and among the first films to ever use voice over narration. Without pulling any punches, Lang created a wildly controversial film.

Consider the fact that films about child murderers are still somewhat taboo today; imagine how shattering one would've been at the start of the 1930s. In his greatest role, Peter Lorre plays the tormented killer who is slowly stalked through the streets of Berlin by different levels of society before being 'tried' for his crimes.

It contains one of the film world's most memorable shots - a letter M being chalked onto the lead character's back, resulting in a signal to the surrounding bystanders that he is a murderer.

But even more interesting than the virtuoso shots is Lang's juxtaposition between criminals and the law, jarringly informing us that cops and gangsters are not that dissimilar and both are repulsed by this child murderer who is bad for business.

Few psychological thrillers are this desperate or claustrophobically structured. 'M' is propelled by a bleak back-story, while a noose tightens with increasing unease, never once cheapening the drive with a race-against-time subplot - it's about what characters do when they're pressed against time, or when they know that their time has come.

Eureka's welcome Blu-ray is an essential for any serious film lover's collection. The disc contains a lovingly restored print in the correct ratio, two commentaries, the original 1932 British edition with unseen footage and a few other little treats as well as a 48-page booklet. Hunt this one down.