Sunday, December 28, 2025

Perry Mason 107: M

Note: The film under review is the 1951 remake of Fritz Lang’s 1931 classic. I first saw the original back in the Nixon era, and what stays in memory is Peter Lorre’s extraordinary performance. Beyond that, comparisons strike me as pointless - they rarely illuminate the intentions behind each work. So, I won’t dwell on them. My focus here is on the performances, especially those of Raymond Burr in his pre-Perry Mason days, when he reigned as the Duke of Noir.

M
1951 / 1:28
Tagline: “'M' ...has struck again!”
[internet archive]

The film opens with a disquieting image: a lone man stalking little girls in Los Angeles. Later, a mother calls for her daughter Elsie - but we see only a balloon and ball, no child to play with them. The desolate images of loss are underscored by chilling dialogue: “Well, the children were not violated or outraged,” answered with raw anger - “What’s the difference? He killed them anyway.”

Raymond Burr, rasping like Brando’s Corleone, plays a stout goombah with unexpected sensitivities - stung when jokingly accused of aiding “baby murders” staged by organized crime to deflect grand jury heat. Gangster logic? To score PR points, the underworld mobilizes its network to hunt a man with an awful interest in little girls. Soon, thieves and cutthroats are on the prowl.

The climax in the iconic Bradbury Building feels rushed, almost frantic. A drunken attorney parodies courtroom logic, arguing - like Socrates - that evil stems from ignorance. His reward? Vigilante justice, a grim echo of public opinion in a democracy crushing philosophy. The film dazzles visually - especially street scenes - but its ideas flash by too quickly to land with force.

Impressive camera work frames stairways, stunned parents, and the killer’s suffocating universe: shoelaces stretched for strangulation, a recorder played against a city panorama, toy trains circling endlessly like his intrusive urges. A montage of working-class faces taking psychological tests adds a surprising, almost documentary texture.

This picture features a large cast so it is natural that some actors were to appear later on the classic Perry Mason TV show. They are William Schallert and Walter Burke who was shot in such a way that a movie-goer would never know he was short in stature. Noir veteran Steve Brodie plays a hard case copper of the rubber hose school, bragging “Give me 10 minutes alone with him and he'll rat out his mother.” The Bradbury Building was featured in TCOT Double-Entry Mind.


Pre-Mason Raymond Burr

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