"On the Prowl" scene from the Fritz Lang movie M

[BabyPuma124]

Not for one second did I 'almost want him to get' the little girl. Not at all. My personal identification was with the girl, not the hunter/predator. More like "Run, Bambi run!" I felt relieved when she encountered her mum.

[vanquine]

My favorite part: the camera tracking the little girl that begins at 1:20. We hear the killer's whistling, and we assume we're in the killer's point of view and seeing the little girl as he sees her--as quarry, as something to be destroyed in satisfying his desires. We almost want him to get what he needs; we almost want her dead. Then she meets her mother, and the camera turns back to reveal the killer hiding in the frame. We weren't in his p.o.v.! For a few moments, we were hunting her.

[JennelleBelle]

Omg that face he does at 3:20 is scary!! Peter Lorre was the best actor ever...there isn't one role he couldn't play and no two were ever similar. Its sucks Hollywood kept him as a freaky character actor because of his looks. On the other hand in my eyes he is the most gorgeous man I ever seen in my life .

[taureleafsilver]

Because of this movie, I feel to compelled to whistle "Hall of the Mountain King" while shopping, ect. despite the horrible implications....

[godzilloid]

I will never be able to listen to "Hall of the Mountain King " again without thinking of this scene. Curse you, Peter Lorre!

[cholocharile]

Best song ever.

[brandonskate1]

haha in ren and stimpy this old guy whistles that tune

[postalcode2934]

@brandonskate1 which ren & stimpy episode was it in? was it the episode where r&s go camping & they meet the old naked dude?

[brandonskate1]

@postalcode2934 yeah it was haha

[funkyspice]

@postalcode2934 no its the one the baby scandal or something like that where they pretend to be babies - in the cut scene where the family is all in the tub the dad hands ren and stimpy to the grandpa and he whistles that exact tune.

[mills211]

What's the name of the song he whistles? I would whistle it, and then I got my friends into whistling it too..

[Zarathustra327]

@mills211 "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg

[HumphreySlash]

Acting at its best. Thank you Peter Lorre for this brilliant scene and for playing this sick murderer so impressive.

[brainiacbelle]

This is the best scene. In any movie. EVER.

[Kousei13]

Oww..no offense but when Lorre started whistling, the sound cracked and I had to rub my ears for the rest of the scene....

BUT regardless this was one of the most impressive, ingenuitive films I ever saw. It was the second time I had seen Peter Lorre (first time was the Maltese Falcon) and the performance was BRILLIANT!!! It was fun to watch as well, for I have been studying the German language since five years (7th grade-12th grade/present) and it is films like this that make me glad I did.

[erasmus2012]

Whats with that strange curio shop? if that arrow going down to the spiralling hypnotic swirling circles isn't a simulated subliminal symbolic sex insinuation I don't know what is.

[SariaMew456]

Naturally. I mean, this is Fritz Lang we're talking about...

[teeckard]

It's "like" he's aroused by a child? He is indeed in every sense aroused by a child. There's no question about it. It's supposed to bother you. It's supposed to portray a man who is tortured by demons that he cannot control.

[curlytoes79]

I was never clear on what exactly went on in this man's mind. Obviously he felt compelled to kill, and the film strongly suggests it was a sexual compulsion (the way he targets girls, etc.). At the same time, he seems to be a child himself - with that round childlike face, the way he stares gleefully at the knives like a child looking at toys in a store window. Very weird and complex character.

[savida34e]

@teeckard That is why those must be destroyed.

[tomars630]

This scene has always bothered me, it's like he's aroused by a child.

[danjosimo3000]

That's the whole deal ov the film.

[teeckard]

exactly

[escottish140]

That's because he is.

[nederland4045]

One of the best movies ever!