Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 14, Week 2

Once, there was this guy who/Murdered little children cause he said he couldn't help it/And when they finally caught him/They...saw...that it was just Peter Lorre/Mmm mmm mmm mmm... I received a bit of a dressing down from not one but two Canadian readers, annoyed that my exposure to the Crash Test Dummies was limited to their lone US hit, 1993's Mmm Mmm Mmm. To them, and to all of Canada, all I can say is, sorry. Yes, that enlarged fingerprint comes from Fritz Lang's first talkie, M, still one of Peter Lorre's finest performances in his overwhelmingly prolific career. I've never seen Joseph Losey's 1951 remake, but I've heard that it's an almost shot-for-shot affair. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Would love to see it, but it's awfully hard to track down. The NYFF has finally ended, and I still have visions of 28 films dancing in my head. It was a strong festival overall, and there were more than a few unexpected surprises. Even the disappointments were better than in recent years. As for flat-out duds, only Redacted and Calle Santa Fe were time wasters. Now it's time to catch up with the theatrical releases I've missed over the past four weeks. First up? Across the Universe. (Woo-hoo!) This week: That poster for Verdi's Attila isn't terribly significant, though the film certainly has its share of barbarism. Name the film. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[James]

Love this movie. One of the best films of its decade, says I.

[DEF]

The Joseph Losey remake is not shot-for-shot. I've seen it twice. First, at the Joseph Losey retrospective a few years back at Lincoln Center and again during the Forum's more recent B-Noir series. It's actually quite powerful, with a fine, although slightly overwrought, performance by David Wayne as the killer, particularly during the final scene in which he attempts some moralized rapprochement between his own inner demons with that of the drunken mob lawyer who represents him at the carnival trial.

[Filmbrain]

Dave --

Thanks for clarifying that. Still hoping to catch it one day.

[Brian]

Call me crazy, but I think I may love Losey's version even more than Lang's. Having had the opportunity to see the remake only once, and the original at my fingertips thanks to Criterion, may be coloring my perception, like how much I love certain songs when played no the radio, but they seem to lose a little magic once I own them on LP/CD/mp3.