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An ESL / EFL Online Gap-Fill Quiz on M

M is a 1931 German drama- directed by Fritz Lang, starring Peter Lorre. It was by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou and was Lang's first film with sound, although he had more than a dozen films previously. The film has become a and Lang himself considered it his finest . The film is set in Berlin in 1931. The police are looking for a child murderer and start up all the criminals they know. The city’s gangs decide to try and catch the killer themselves. They do just that and try him in their own kangaroo court. The police him and arrest him so that he can stand trial again. The film with a warning to parents to watch over their children.

M is supposedly on the real-life case of serial killer Peter Kürten, the "Vampire of Düsseldorf", whose took place in the 1920s. Lang denied that he was in any way by this case. Lang told film historian Gero Gandert in a 1963 interview: "At the time I decided to use the matter of M, there were many serial killers terrorizing Germany.” M premiered on May 11, 1931 in a lasting 117 minutes. The negatives of the movie are preserved at the Federal Film Archive in a 96-minute version. In 1960 a shortened version was lasting 98 minutes. The original 1931 version was #33 in Empire magazine’s "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.