Lack Of Sound In The Film, M By Fritz Lang

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M, a film that is directed by Fritz Lang in 1929, follows the story of a man, Hans Beckert, with an uncontrollable thirst to kill and the chaos that engulfs the city because of the killings. After a series of child abductions and murders, certain citizens take it upon themselves to find the murderer, due to the incompetence of the police force. They request the assistance of the head of the criminal union, Schranker, to lead the manhunt for the murderer. Schranker utilizes the beggars union to serve as spies and widens the search throughout the entire city, which ultimately pays off when a blind man who sold a balloon to Beckert identifies him later on by his whistling. After a lengthy chase, he is eventually caught and brought to a mock trial led by the criminal union. After Beckert …show more content…

All the sound in the film was diegetic sound, in that all the sounds made during this film, came from the world in that film, and no sound came from an exterior source. This film was Lang’s first sound film, and some attribute the lack of a score for the film to Lang’s inexperience with sound films, however in this particular scene, the lack of dramatic music playing in the background heightened the level of tension and emotions during the scene. Lang was able to use the characters’ dialog as a soundtrack to the film, and would also use the silence of the film to emphasize other sequences. At the beginning of the scene, Lang manages to segue smoothly from the previous scene to this one by having Franz’s voice over inter-cut with the visual of himself sitting in Lohmann’s office to the abandoned building. Also, when Beckert is first brought down to the basement, he turns around to see a group of people silently staring directly at him. He looks taken a back and in shock as he stares right back at them, all the while nothing is said for nearly thirty seconds, creating both a tense and suspenseful