Not often does a decision made by a director due to lack of funds create an end result that critics will continue discussing for nearly a century. However German director Fritz Lang, made such a decision for his 1931 film, M. Partly due to monetary constraints, and partly due to feelings that his own artistic vision would be compromised by including sound in his piece, the end result was a film with roughly a third in total silence. No film, as of yet, quite encapsulates the deafening power of silence like M. Lang uses sound, and lack thereof, to elicit emotional responses from the audience and amplify suspense. Through these techniques, Lang creates a piece that not only works as a thrilling crime drama, but also shines a light on the total
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Sound is used to evoke emotion in the viewer, truly thrust them into the action and add suspense, making the end result that much more chilling. At the beginning of the film, shortly after little Elsie Beckmann is kidnapped by Beckert, her mother’s screams become more and more frantic as she is receiving no response. This fades into silent images of Elsie’s empty plate at the dinner table, her ball rolling to a stop in the yard, and finally the balloon Beckert bought her getting caught in the power line. This allows the viewer to infer what has become of Elsie while simultaneously soaking in the impact on her family. Throughout the film, no music of any kind is employed save that of Beckert’s whistling of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”. For the first three-quarters of the film, this signals to the viewer that Beckert is about to strike again and abduct and murder yet another young girl, thereby taking on a very chilling and horror-esque quality. At the end of the film, the whistling is what identifies the child murderer to the blind balloon salesman as he remembers this whistling from the day Elsie Beckman was murdered. This scene, which takes place on a busy street, features Beckert’s whistling in place of any other noises that could be heard, as this is what has caught the ears of the blind beggar, as pointed out by Timothy J. Edwards. (Edwards) Sound is central to his identity as the child murderer, and ultimately proves his
Sound is used to evoke emotion in the viewer, truly thrust them into the action and add suspense, making the end result that much more chilling. At the beginning of the film, shortly after little Elsie Beckmann is kidnapped by Beckert, her mother’s screams become more and more frantic as she is receiving no response. This fades into silent images of Elsie’s empty plate at the dinner table, her ball rolling to a stop in the yard, and finally the balloon Beckert bought her getting caught in the power line. This allows the viewer to infer what has become of Elsie while simultaneously soaking in the impact on her family. Throughout the film, no music of any kind is employed save that of Beckert’s whistling of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”. For the first three-quarters of the film, this signals to the viewer that Beckert is about to strike again and abduct and murder yet another young girl, thereby taking on a very chilling and horror-esque quality. At the end of the film, the whistling is what identifies the child murderer to the blind balloon salesman as he remembers this whistling from the day Elsie Beckman was murdered. This scene, which takes place on a busy street, features Beckert’s whistling in place of any other noises that could be heard, as this is what has caught the ears of the blind beggar, as pointed out by Timothy J. Edwards. (Edwards) Sound is central to his identity as the child murderer, and ultimately proves his