Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933)

 

When a series of crime events terrorize the city, the police suspect the involvement of Dr Mabuse, a notorious criminal. They are astonished as he has been captive in an asylum since a decade.

Top-notch action thriller of its time with some madcap sequences revealing Fritz Lang's obvious brilliance, but - despite some claims to the contrary - it's less political warning and rather just simple entertainment.

Halliwell*: "Fast-moving penny dreadful, alleged by its director to be a denouncing of the doctrines of Hitler, but showing little evidence of being more than a very slick entertainment."

Maltin***1/2: "...less stylized but no less entertaining crime story - which even incorporates supernatural elements. Film was a subject of controversy during Nazi era." 

  

M (1931)

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

One of the few true masterpieces in cinema history, meticulously made in all departments, every single take in itself an expressionistic work of art; as a clairvoyant social (and political) melodrama it stills grips even today, and Peter Lorre's performance is arguably one of the greatest of all time.

Halliwell***: "An unmistakable classic whose oddities are hardly worth criticizing, this is part social melodrama and part satire, but entirely unforgettable, with most of its sequences brilliantly staged."

Maltin****: "Harrowing melodrama...Riveting and frighteningly contemporary; cinematically dazzling, especially for an early talkie. Lorre's performance is unforgettable."